Durham book place in Twenty20 last four
Tuesday, 22 Jul 2008 21:58
Paul Collingwood only made 2, but saw his Durham side emerge victorious
Durham have booked their place in the semi-final of the Twenty20 Cup with a comfortable victory over Glamorgan in the long-awaited quarter-final at the Riverside.
Durham won by 44 runs with Will Smith scoring 51 from 38 balls, and Liam Plunkett taking 3-16.
Durham had initially been due to play Yorkshire in the quarter-final on July 7th, but the game was postponed when it emerged that Yorkshire had fielded an ineligible player in the group stages.
Nottinghamshire were then put forward as Durham's opponents, but after Yorkshire appealed the decision to remove them from the tournament, finally Glamorgan were confirmed as Durham's opponents in the last eight.
When the game finally got underway Durham fans could be forgiven for wondering if it was worth the wait.
James Harris took two wickets as Phil Mustard, Paul Collingwood and Shivnarine Chanderpaul were all dismissed which reduced Durham to 26-3.
Smith steadied the ship with an impressive innings as the home side posted a total of 163.
In reply, Liam Plunkett took two Glamorgan wickets in their first over, and finished with figures of 3-16, furthering his claim for an England call-up, as Glamorgan finished on 119 all out.
Durham will now play Middlesex at the Rose Bowl on Saturday for the place in the final and the lucrative Champions League.