Agar, Breetzke seal crucial Northants win in eight-over shoot-out

Northamptonshire 91 for 4 (Agar 31) beat Durham 90 for 5 (Turner 36*) by six wickets

Ashton Agar and Lewis McManus blasted Northamptonshire Steelbacks to a crucial Vitality Blast win at the Seat Unique Riverside, as the visitors beat Durham by six wickets in a rain-affected match.

Having been put in by the Steelbacks, Ashton Turner (36) continued his good form and along with Colin Ackermann (25) powered Durham to a competitive total of 90 for five from their reduced allocation of eight overs amid some wayward fielding from the visitors.

Agar came in at No. 3 and smashed 31 to give the visitors a platform to chase down 91 and McManus along with Saif Zaib guided the visitors home with six wickets to spare.

Northants are now in the box seat for qualification as they still have two games to play, with a home fixture against Birmingham Bears and a visit to Lancashire still to come. Meanwhile, Durham have to pray for some favourable results elsewhere as they have just one group game left, a trip to Derbyshire on Friday night.

With plenty of rain falling at Chester-le-Street, play didn’t start until 5.10 pm and the game was reduced to eight overs per side. The Steelbacks won the toss and elected to bowl first, with Graham Clark and Michael Jones having the role of giving Durham a good start in testing conditions.

However, Clark chipped a Jack White ball, the first of the innings to mid-on. Ben Sanderson then got Alex Lees for 1 to put the hosts under real pressure at 2 for 2 before Turner was dropped by Agar first ball.

But Jones bounced back and hit back-to-back sixes, both over the leg-side boundary. Turner joined in with Jones’ big hitting as he pulled a David Willey ball for six and he followed that up with a beautiful ramp shot for four.

Agar came into the attack and made an instant impact as the dangerous Jones was stumped for 16. In the same over Ben Raine was then dropped twice on the boundary by Gus Miller.

Raine was then run out for 5 by Matthew Breetzke, but Turner continued his big hitting with back-to-back boundaries off Sanderson. Turner combined well with Ackermann for a partnership worth 45, but Willey removed the latter for 25 in the final over.

The Steelbacks got off to a terrible start with Australian Ben Dwarshuis bowling the dangerous Willey with the first ball of the innings. Agar then struck back, clipping one off his legs for six to give the Steelbacks a much-needed boundary.

He then found his run scoring groove hitting Raine for back-to-back boundaries. Agar dispatched any width offered by the Durham attack, particularly in Bas de Leede’s only over, which went for 23.

Nathan Sowter removed him for 31 with his second ball as he was caught on the boundary, while Sowter continued to create opportunities with Breetzke dropped by Lees on 11.

Breetzke didn’t last much longer as Callum Parkinson bowled him for 20, with Ravi Bopara hitting an aerial shot from the following ball, which just evaded de Leede.

Sowter then got the experienced Bopara for 6, but Zaib and McManus struck priceless boundaries and guided the Steelbacks home.