Wood you believe it? Mark stars to get Jets soaring to Finals Day

DURHAM JETS had faced group-stage turbulence but soared into Finals Day with top gun Mark Wood in the cockpit.

Wood (2-28) is looking like every inch the England bowler he was before being cut down by an ankle injury in October – but Durham will be counting on their star quick to lead from the front at Edgbaston on August 20.

Hamish Marshall and Ian Cockbain – the latter of whom had thrashed 499 runs in the competition this year – were gone within Wood’s first two overs, in which he was frequently touching 90mph.

That put Gloucestershire’s chase of 181 on the skids before it had truly started as Durham, who sneaked into the quarter-finals by finishing fourth in the North Group, booked their first Finals Day trip since 2008.

“I thought the way Mark bowled early on and took the wickets put them under pressure,” said skipper Paul Collingwood. “Scotty Borthwick (1-25) as well, spinning the ball both ways, you need X-Factor players to make the difference.”

Opposing captain Michael Klinger added: “(Wood) certainly had some good speed and those two wickets in that one over made a huge difference in the game. It just means you can’t attack as you want to in that powerplay.”

Jack Taylor threatened to steal Wood’s thunder after crowning his first game since his bowling suspension was lifted by starring with the bat.

The off-spinner, who had been cited for an illegal action for the second time of his career, crunched 80 runs off 41 balls and helped Gloucestershire whittle the target down to 27 off the last two overs.

But the chase ended with two run-outs – bringing the innings total to four – with Gloucestershire 19 runs behind.

“We tried to go for wide yorkers and (Taylor) kept on stepping across,” admitted Collingwood, who was taken out of the attack after bowling two above waist height no balls. “But the striking was fantastic and it was very hard to stop him scoring.

“If you look at the context of the game, winning by 20 runs is a pretty big margin.”

Surrey-bound Mark Stoneman had provided the firepower in Durham’s 180-5 as his 61 brought up his second T20 half-century in as many matches.