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Falcons edged out in run fest

Friday 27th May 2016
Written by Danny Painter

Derbyshire Falcons scored 195-7 from their 20 overs, but Northants Steelbacks narrowly came out on top, chasing down their target with one ball to spare.

Wes Durston and Chesney Hughes dominated large parts of the scoring for the Falcons, scoring 47 and 46 respectively, before Tom Poynton hit an unbeaten 37 to set Northants 196 to win.

In a chase that ebbed and flowed, the hosts ultimately came out victorious, despite Andy Carter claiming 3-34 and Matt Critchley taking 2-19, as Richard Levi’s destructive 58 did much of the damage for the Steelbacks.

After being asked to bat first and the early loss of Hamish Rutherford (10), Durston got his side off to a good start,  batting aggressively to move the Falcons to 65-1 at the end of the six-over powerplay.

Durston was being aided by the clean striking of Chesney Hughes who had come in at number three for the Falcons, but saw Durston fall three short of a half-century, having faced 24 balls and scored four fours and three sixes.

Neil Broom hit successive fours to get off the mark at number four but could only make nine as the Northants spinners attempted to stem the flow of scoring during the middle overs. Derbyshire were 107-3 in the 11th over. Wayne Madsen hit Josh Cobb for four, six, four from the first three balls of his over but the Northants skipper had his revenge when he trapped Madsen lbw for 21.

Cobb struck again with the final ball of the same over when he bowled Chesney Hughes for 46 from 29 deliveries with six fours and a six. The Falcons lost a couple of wickets during a good spell for the hosts as they reduced the visitors from 140-3 to 151-7 in the 15th over.

That brought Alex Hughes and Poynton together who begun sensibly to ensure they saw out the remaining overs. Poynton dominated the late striking to finish unbeaten on 37 from 21 balls as the Falcons posted 195-7 from their 20 overs.

In the chase, Thakor got an early wicket for the visitors when he bowled Adam Rossington for 16 in the second over of the chase. But Levi started a brutal attack on the Derbyshire bowlers, which helped take his side to 71-1 after the first six overs of the chase.

Like they had done at Emirates Old Trafford last week, Critchley and Alex Hughes stemmed the flow of runs in the middle overs with the former picking up his first wicket in Twenty20 cricket when he had Josh Cobb caught out for 35. The young leg-spinner also had the prized wicket of Levi soon after when the South African gave a simple catch to Neesham on 58 from 37 balls.

Ben Duckett added a more than useful 29 for the Steelbacks before being out to Durston whilst Prasanna was then bowled by Carter for a three-ball duck to leave 27 needed from the final three overs.

Carter took the wickets of Rory Kleinveldt (12) and Rob Keogh (2) during a frantic final over, but it ultimately wasn’t enough as Northants managed to get over the line with three wickets in hands.

Click HERE to view scorecard.

Derbyshire Falcons host their opening home NatWest T20 Blast fixture vs Leicestershire Foxes on Friday 3 June. Buy your tickets in advance to secure your seat and save 20%.

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