Result: Durham Jets (180/5; Stoneman 61) beat Gloucestershire (161; J Taylor 80) by 19 runs
The Durham Jets are heading to the club’s second Finals Day after a 19-run win over Gloucestershire at the Brightside Ground.
After reducing to the hosts to 91/7, a quickfire 80 from Jack Taylor kept them interested until the final ball.
But when he and brother Matt ended up at the same end, Michael Richardson completed a run out to seal a 19-run win.
It rounded off an excellent evening for the Jets ‘keeper, who claimed a stunning catch to dismiss dangerman Michael Klinger while also hitting a pivotal 37 from 21 balls.
After winning the toss and electing to bat first, the platform provided by openers Mark Stoneman & Keaton Jennings proved an excellent foundation to build upon.
Both accumulated in tidy fashion before Stoneman pulled away with a number of boundaries, hitting Taylor straight twice and taking two more off Benny Howell’s first over.
Running hard to turn ones into twos was a feature of the 96-run partnership, broken only when Stoneman found Hamish Marshall on the long-on boundary.
Two wickets in as many overs looked to have set the Jets back but a late rally by Richardson pushed them towards 180.
Having only struck one maximum in T20 cricket before this game, he ensued to hit three in as many overs while ably supported by Gordon Muchall.
Richardson and Ryan Pringle fell in successive balls during the final over but Paul Collingwood rounded off the innings with a reverse paddle to the boundary past third man.
Early wickets were key and Mark Wood’s pace was too hot to handle in the second; Marshall skewed an attempted hook to Jennings and Ian Cockbain top-edged to the same man two balls later.
Dangerman Michael Klinger, the competition’s leading run-scorer, showed just why with 14 off Chris Rushworth’s third over before Richardson, stood up to the stumps, took a stunning catch to dismiss him for 18.
A glut of wickets put the Jets well on top during the middle overs, including two spectacular run outs by Stoneman & Muchall via direct hits.
But Jack Taylor had other ideas and found the boundary on regular occasions to keep the hosts interested.
And when Collingwood’s three-ball over went for 22 and the skipper was pulled out of the attack for two waist-high no balls, Taylor had pulled them right back in it.
Rushworth took a good return catch from debutant ‘keeper Patrick Grieshaber and Andrew Tye was the third man to be run out as Taylor was joined by his brother as last man.
Then in an attempt to retrieve the strike for the start of the final over, Taylor’s mammoth resistance came to a close as the Jets sealed victory.