Durham’s late batting stutter is costly after Ollie Robinson’s half-century
ECB Reporters Network29-May-2023Alex Hales scored an unbeaten 65 to guide Nottinghamshire Outlaws back to winning ways in the Vitality Blast, defeating Durham by five wickets at Seat Unique Riverside.The England opener was in dominant form for the Outlaws bouncing back from a duck against the Lancashire Lightning in his last outing. Hales was aggressive at the start of his knock to put his team ahead of the rate before playing the anchor role, allowing team-mates Tom Moores and Shaheen Afridi to blast Notts over the line with four balls to spare.Earlier in the day, Ollie Robinson scored his second T20 fifty in two days to top score for the hosts in their innings of 168. But, Durham were made to rue a costly end to their innings after scoring only nine from their final two overs, which played a significant role in their first defeat in the competition this season.After losing the toss, Durham’s Graham Clark looked to build on his century in their opener match and found his range in the third over, clattering Afridi for a six and boundary into the leg-side from successive deliveries before just lifting an off-drive over the head Matthew Carter at mid-off to hand the home side impetus.Conor McKerr halted Clark’s onslaught for 29 as the opener picked out Mullaney. But, Michael Jones kept Durham’s strong start alive after surviving an edge past Tom Moores from his first ball. The Scotland international scored five boundaries in a quick-fire 26 from 12 balls, but Mullaney produced a gem to bowl Jones and then prised out Alex Lees for 13.Durham required a response to stem the tide. Turner and Robinson produced a vital stand under pressure worth 57 for the fourth wicket. The two players complemented each other well with the guile of Robinson and the power of Turner providing the foundation of the Durham innings.Turner attempted to push the run rate on but presented Mullaney with his third wicket when Hales took a good low catch at long-off. Robinson pressed on and continued to defy the Nottinghamshire attack, dispatching Afridi for two boundaries to record his second Blast fifty on the bounce following his career-best effort against Yorkshire.Afridi had his revenge to bowl Robinson before he and McKerr bottled up the home side in the final two overs, which cost just nine runs, to restrict Durham to a total of 168 from their 20 overs.Joe Clarke began the Outlaws’ reply with a blistering start, scoring three boundaries and a six. But, Liam Trevaskis displayed great reactions to palm up a powerful drive to remove the opener caught and bowled. Hales answered back for the visitors, smashing 25 off one over from De Leede, including two towering sixes into the leg-side.Ben Raine and Nathan Sowter made inroads into the Nottinghamshire line-up, but Lyndon James offered a useful cameo to take the pressure on Hales to keep the visitors ahead of the required rate before he fell for 20 to Turner.Amid the fall of wickets, Hales altered his approach from aggressor to game manager, reaching his half-century from 33 balls for the 72nd time in T20 cricket. His innings allowed Moores to find his range against Trevaskis, smashing 16 off the 14th over to edge Notts closer to their victory target.Moores became Raine’s second victim of the game for 32, but there was to be no late drama as Afridi smashed two sixes off De Leede and then Trevaskis in the final over to secure the win for the visitors.
