Heroics from Gleeson in a losing cause
DURHAM’S Liam Trevaskis produced late heroics as Lancashire lost their unbeaten record in the Vitality Blast at Seat Unique Riverside.
Lightning appeared to be on the verge of their seventh straight win after outstanding bowling from Richard Gleeson left Durham struggling to reach their target of 131, despite knocks of 46 from Ned Eckersley and 36 from Michael Jones.
However, with the pressure on Trevaskis, the skipper blasted 16 runs from seven balls to steer his side over line with vital late boundaries with three balls to spare.
Lancashire - without Liam Livingstone – had produced an under-par effort with the bat, mustering only 130 from their 20 overs, with the majority coming from Steven Croft’s 55.
Opener Phil Salt scored quick-fire boundaries, including three in a row against Trevaskis, to get Lancashire off to a bright start.
However, the Durham skipper had his revenge from the fourth ball of his opening over as Salt fell for 23. Keaton Jennings scored only three before he was bowled by Tye.
Nathan Sowter then put the clamps on after only completing a loan move from Middlesex hours before the contest. He prised out Dane Vilas lbw for 12 before bowling Tim David for only six.
Further wickets from AJ Tye and Bem Raine allowed Durham to keep the pressure on the Lightning, while Sowter returned for his final over to remove Tom Hartley, ending the innings with impressive figures of 3-22.
Croft fell going for a big strike off Raine in the final over before Matt Parkinson was run out from last ball.
Liam Hurt produced a brilliant delivery to bowl Graham Clark off the first ball of the reply. Gleeson then cleaned up David Bedingham and Ollie Robinson to bring the Lightning back into the game.
Jones steadied Durham and saw off the initial threat of Gleeson, before he had a rush of blood and attempted to sweep Hartley and was pinned lbw.
Hartley claimed his second when Raine was caught miscuing his slog-sweep to Croft.
Gleeson then bowled Eckersley and Brydon Carse for two.
Durham needed heroics from their captain in the middle and Trevaskis delivered by striking Hurt for a four and six in back-toback deliveries in the penultimate over before seeing his team over the line to secure their third win of the campaign.