Colin Ackermann’s Century Leads Durham to 4 Wickets Victory Over Northamptonshire
Thanks to a brilliant effort by Colin Ackermann, Durham defeated Northamptonshire by four wickets in a dramatic One-Day Cup 2024 encounter at Chester-le-Street.
With 11 balls remaining, the home team defeated the Steelbacks’ 260 with Ackermann scoring 108. This result had seemed unlikely when visiting opener Prithvi Shaw was scoring 97 off 71 balls and Northamptonshire was at 144 for 1 after 21 overs. Northants remain without a victory as Durham takes control at Chester-le-Street.
Northamptonshire 260 (Shaw 97) lost to Durham 261 for 6 (Ackermann 108, Lees 55) by 4 wickets.
However, Durham’s spinners controlled the run rate to lay the stage for their team’s second competitive win of the year. Nevertheless, Northamptonshire has already dropped its first four games and needs to win the remaining four in order to have any chance of making it to the knockout stages.
A barrage of boundaries marked the start of Northamptonshire’s innings as Durham’s new ball bowlers went missing from view. After hitting nine fours in the first five overs, the visitors were 53 runs ahead of the opposition.
Northamptonshire were 78 for 1 after 10 overs when Bas de Leede bowled a wicket-maiden, trapping Ricardo Vasconcelos for nine. Despite this, Shaw kept hitting Durham seamers, achieving his fifty off thirty-one balls with eleven fours.
Shaw’s momentum was somewhat hindered by Scott Borthwick’s legspin, but he managed to reach 97 when he top-edged a sweep off Borthwick to Mitch Killeen at short fine leg. After facing 71 balls, he had struck 16 fours and one six. After he swam down to his right at backward point to collect George Bartlett’s reverse-sweep off George Drissell for 34, three overs later, Killeen accepted a far harder opportunity.
After that, Northamptonshire was down to 162 for three in the 26th over. Rob Keogh then gave Paul Coughlin a misplayed Ackermann offbreak at midwicket, costing the home team another wicket 26 runs later.
Saif Zaib, who had reached 25 off 33 balls, was bowled by Coughlin for 15 when he pulled a long-hop from Borthwick to Ackermann. Gus Miller was also caught by Coughlin for 15, and Justin Broad was run out for a single as Northants attempted to score quickly in the final ten overs.
Durham likely saw Northamptonshire’s last over total of 260 to be an escape when they were dismissed for 260. The main contributors to their side’s relative comeback were Ackermann (two for 38) and Borthwick (two for 42).
Durham’s innings began with ten overs that were significantly quieter than their opponents’. After losing Michael Jones, who was bowled by Sanderson for nine runs, and Ben McKinney, who miscued Justin Broad high to Sanderson and ran behind the bowler from mid-on to collect the catch, the home team managed to score just 35 runs.
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Following those breakthroughs, Alex Lees and Ackermann produced a brilliant partnership that contrasted with the performance on Wednesday when Somerset’s Jack Leach wrecked havoc by first eliminating the seam bowlers and then turning the assault toward the spinners.
The match had changed when the two reached their century partnership in 95 balls, and Ackermann had already reached his fifty in 52 balls. After 25 overs, Durham had reached 126 for 2. Lewis McManus switched about his spinners, but it had no effect until Lees, who had reached fifty off fifty balls, was leg before Zaib for fifty-five, breaking his stand with Ackermann for 133 runs.
Durham barely found it easy to reach their target of 98 runs in 20 overs. After Ackermann hit Gus Miller for a boundary and flicked Zaib to Freddie Heldreich two balls later, Borthwick was out for 40 without much thought.
Keogh bowled Haydon Mustard for eight, but de Leede’s unbeaten fifteen calmed any domestic anxieties resulting from losing three wickets in four overs.
