Durham are left to Mull over a one-day collapse
STEVEN Mullaney smashed a career-best 124 and then took two key wickets as Nottinghamshire beat Durham by 31 runs in the Royal London One-Day Cup.
Notts’ skipper guided his team out of trouble from 73-5 to a competitive total of 255 before he removed Michael Richardson (68) and Stuart Poynter in successive overs to spark a Durham collapse.
Victory leaves the holders on course for a quarter-final berth with one game left to play.
The visitors were inserted by Durham skipper Tom Latham and Mark Wood got his side off to the perfect start by clean bowling Riki Wessels off the first ball of the innings.
Alex Hales struggled to get going and was caught looking to break the shackles by Richardson.
The introduction of Gareth Harte paid dividends as Tom Moores nicked off behind for 23, while Matt Dixon had Samit Patel caught at fine leg.
Ross Taylor looked in good form as he scored a brisk 25 but then played on to a Harte delivery to put the home side in the ascendancy.
Mullaney and Chris Nash were able to stabilise the innings by knocking the ball around the ground.
The duo were steady in their approach, putting on a 50 partnership in 92 deliveries.
Ryan Pringle ended the stand with a turning delivery to dismiss Nash lbw for 40, while Billy Root followed cheaply. However, Mullaney remained composed at the crease to notch his 50 before upping the ante towards the end of the innings.
The Notts skipper reached a century off 111 deliveries and pushed on in the final over to reach his highest List A score, hitting Dixon for three straight sixes before he was caught by Richardson for 124.
The home side’s reply began poorly as Cameron Steel edged behind to hand Jake Ball his 100th List A wicket.
Graham Clark and Richardson built a steady partnership, putting on 50 off 80 deliveries.
Samit Patel dropped Clark off his own bowling but returned in the following over to dismiss the opener for 36.
Latham arrived at the crease with an attacking intent. He found the rope four times and also scored a six - but was then out tamely to Nash for 28.
Will Smith joined Richardson in the middle and the in-form duo reached their 50 partnership at a brisk pace.
With 12 overs left, Durham required 80 runs and had seven wickets in hand, but Mullaney then struck twice in quick succession to swing the game.
Smith fell to Matthew Carter (4-47) for 45 soon after, the first of five wickets for just 22 runs as Durham collapsed to a fifth defeat in seven games in the competition.
Durham captain Tom Latham said: “It’s disappointing to lose the game.
“The score doesn’t quite reflect how close we were.
“Chasing down the score we got ourselves into position at 40 overs when the required rate was only at seven with a few wickets in hand.
“We lacked that someone to go on and get a big score. It’s very frustrating, but we move on to Leicester.
“We were happy to get them 73-5, but they built the partnership and we couldn’t quite break it.
“We got into positions to keep on taking wickets but we struggled towards the end of the innings. Mullaney played a great knock and hit the ball very cleanly. Hopefully if we get into that position again we can do things a little bit differently.”
Outlaws’ coach Peter Moores said: “It’s funny how the game goes sometimes. We’ve defended a low score twice brilliantly. Credit to the bowlers and the way we fielded. I think we were very calm under pressure.
“One thing this side has shown is it knows how to get over the line and we’ve done it again today so it’s kept ourselves in the tournament.”
Former England head coach Moores praised his captain Mullaney.
He added: “He’s done a great job. He’s batted beautifully today and he bowled well.
“Tactically he has shown his versatility, he doesn’t make changes for the sake of it and his field positioning has been outstanding.
“He’s done a fantastic job so far and may that long continue.
“He knew how to get through to the last five overs. He and Chris Nash rebuilt nicely.
“We expected a good finish, we gave out a bit of a battering in the end.”