On a warm clear night in Derby, the Falcons kept Durham’s batting down and came tantalizing close to taking two victories in two. Some excellent bowling from the Jets, however, coupled with a fine innings from Paul Collingwood, put paid to Derbyshire’s hopes.
Nathan Rimmington, having been waiting out a finger injury, finally made his debut for Derbyshire Falcons tonight. It was a long awaited affair and the fans were not disappointed. Having won the toss in the clear evening of what had been a cloudy day, captain Wes Durston wanted to take advantage and put the visitors in to bat first.
In his four overs, Rimmington took two wickets for just 29 runs. His fellow overseas player, Tillakaratne Dilshan took two wickets of his own and for just 28 runs. It was a decent performance for both, but Durham’s performance with the bat was also decent.
Mark Stoneman and Phil Mustard stepped into the middle and started the evening with a bang. They put together a partnership of 48 runs before Mustard became Rimmington’s first victim. He was clean bowled for 20 in the fifth over.
Stoneman reached 28 before following his teammate back to the dugout, after Dilshan had him trapped lbw in the tenth over. Stokes put 19 runs on the board for his part, but it was the veteran Collingwood who made up the core of the Jets’ innings.
After a small tumble of wickets had pulled the visitors’ innings back, Collingwood came to the crease and started things moving again. Making work with the bat look all too easy, Collingwood put 41 runs on the board off 31 balls, with a nice scoop over the boundary bringing Durham’s first boundary in some time and the Jets finally reached three figures in the 15th over.
He eventually became Rimmington’s second scalp of the evening, but not before pushing his side to a respectable 147 runs.
Batting second, Derbyshire were incredibly determined, boosted no doubt by the bowling performance and last week’s victory. In a similar to the match against Lancashire, the openers used the Powerplay overs to quickly build their reply. Openers Dilshan and Durston got quick boundaries and moved to 24-0 after three overs.
Durston fell, run out by the superb Collingwood for 21, but Chesney Hughes replaced him and wasted no time getting in on the fun.
The Derbyshire crowd were loving it, the Derbyshire players were loving it and it was well deserved. By the midway point, it looked pretty clear that the Falcons were going to take an easy victory.
By the time 15 overs had passed, however, things were not so clear. Everything had slowed right down and the scoreboard now sat at at 110-4, 38 runs still needed.
When Dilshan was removed by a superb Collingwood catch, off the bowling of John Hastings, it was the beginning of the end. For the Falcons, Dilshan had led the way and with his demise the belief slipped into the ether.
Wicket after wicket tumbled until they went into the final over still needing 11 runs and with only three wickets to hand. It was a difficult over at best, with two wickets falling and just the odd single. The Jets won by five runs.
Durham took a victory that was well deserved. The Falcons set themselves well and should’ve taken the spoils, but they were unworthy. Collingwood, on the other, did little wrong and in the end it was Durham who deserved the victory. They remain on the top of the table tonight, while Derbyshire must once again ponder what went wrong.
Man of the Match: Paul Collingwood 41 (31 balls), 0/22 (three overs)