Result: Northants Steelbacks (162/4; Duckett 72; 2 points) beat Durham Jets (161/7; Burnham 53; Kleinveldt 3/28) by six wickets
Jack Burnham’s career-best NatWest T20 Blast score could not prevent a final over defeat to Northants Steelbacks at Emirates Riverside.
Burnham’s fifty, his first in Twenty20 cricket, lifted Durham up to 161/7 with the help of a quickfire 38.
But Ben Duckett’s 72 helped the champions chase it down with four balls to spare as Rob Keogh lofted James Weighell over mid off for four.
Duckett initially stuggled to find his timing, despite scooping Chris Rushworth to fine leg for his only six in the third over., but the left-hander always seemed to have things under control.
Durham’s superior athleticism restricted their visitors’ ability to run twos, nor could Northants clear the rope with ease as it was pushed well back and Josh Cobb, the match-winner in last year’s final, was caught on the mid-wicket boundary.
Skipper Alex Wakely was also caught just inside the rope at backward square for 27 in the 18th over, leaving Rob Keogh and Steven Crook to score 18 off two.
Keogh collected two boundaries off Usman Arshad then hit Weighell over mid-off for the winning four.
Burnham tried to step things up in the closing overs of Durham’s innings as he completed his half-century by stepping across to scoop Ben Sanderson to fine leg.
That brought his third four and he added two big sixes in his unbeaten 53 off 41 balls.
Durham had hopes of reaching 180 while he was putting on 57 in six overs with Collingwood, who also hit two sixes in his 38 off 28 balls.
But once he was out three more wickets fell to Rory Kleinveldt and only 35 runs came off the last five overs.
There was also a vital contribution from South African spinner Tabraiz Shamsi, who proved something of a mystery as he took two for 20 in four overs, which included having Collingwood caught low down at extra cover, giving Cobb his third catch.
The Jets are next back in action when the Sky cameras are in town on Thursday, 20 July with Leicestershire Foxes the visitors at Emirates Riverside.
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