WHO WILL STOP THE DURHAM TRAIN?
DURHAM County are enjoying their dance in the sunshine.
Fresh off their series whitewash victory over Zimbabwe A in the two three-day matches, the English county side have been unstoppable in the domestic T20 League, which ends this weekend.
At the halfway mark, neither rain nor sunshine have been capable of stopping the English county juggernaut as Durham top the six-team competition at the halfway mark.
They are unbeaten after three games and have eight points from the same number of games.
Rhinos (5), Eagles (4), Southern Rocks, Mountaineers (2) and Tuskers (0) occupy the other places on the table.
Durham have shone with both bat and ball. Their team have averaged over 175 runs during their three matches and have the best net run rate (2.878) of all the six participating teams.
Their last victory over Southern Rocks on Tuesday was but a display of the English county side’s batting and bowling power.
Much like he did during the three-day matches and first T20 games, Colin Ackermann again played a major part in Durham’s fine performance as they beat Rocks by 16 runs according to the Duckworth-Lewis calculations.
The English county side like winning the toss and batting first, and they were able to do both again in this rain-affected match.
Although Alex Lees went for six, Graham
Clark (35) and Bas de Leede (29) put on 61 for the second wicket in just over eight overs.
It was at this juncture that Ackermann came in and powered his way to 52 off only 23 balls, with three sixes and four fours.
Ollie Robinson (27) was his partner in a fourth-wicket partnership of 79 in just over seven overs, and it enabled Durham to reach the total of
174 for five wickets.
The 174 for five happens to be their lowest total of the competition so far.
Jalat Khan and Dylan Hondo took two wickets apiece for Rocks, for 23 and 26 runs respectively, but most of the other bowlers suffered quite severely.