Durham 184 for 8 (Coughlin 42, Ahmed 2-22) beat Leicestershire 130 (Patel 40, Coughlin 4-15) by 54 runsPaul Coughlin shone with bat and ball as Durham shrugged off the loss of three of their squad on England duty to beat Leicestershire Foxes by 54 runs in their opening North Group match in the Vitality Blast. Ahmed introduced himself to Blast audiences in sensational fashion, taking a return catch with his first ball after inducing a leading edge from David Bedingham. From 82 for 3 at the halfway point, Durham slipped to 109 for 5 in the 12th. But Coughlin and Ned Eckersley, whose 20 off nine included two sixes in an expensive last over that went for 19 as Walker finished with 2 for 52, helped Durham set a challenging target. Even after Patel found the boundary three times off Carse the Foxes were well off the pace at 70 for 4 after 10.

Source: The North Africa Journal May 27, 2022 03:05 UTC