Durham 150 for 4 (Clark 62, Lees 45) beat Leicestershire 148 for 8 (Budinger 40, Pott 3-28)

Leicestershire won the toss and batted first, but Durham were disciplined with their bowling throughout and limited the Foxes’ run-making opportunities as they made 148 for 8, with Matthew Potts picking up three scalps.

Durham’s chase got off to a scintillating start, with Clark smashing an 18-ball half-century as Durham dominated the Foxes’ bowling attack during the powerplay. That set the platform for a convincing Durham win as they chased down the target of 149 with six overs to spare.

Durham struck early as Stephen Eskinazi sent a Callum Parkinson delivery up in the air and it was caught at long-on.

An excellent piece of fielding off his own bowling by Nathan Sowter then dismissed Rishi Patel, as the leg-spinner palmed a straight drive from Sol Budinger into the stumps with Patel short of his ground.

Durham nearly had their third as Nick Kelly hammered a Ben Raine ball to cover, but a diving Alex Lees couldn’t cling on.

Budinger, who had played nicely, smashed Parkinson for six down the ground, but the former Leicestershire man got his revenge as the opener miscued one to backward point.

Ex-Durham man Ashton Turner joined Kelly at the crease and Leicestershire’s overseas duo defied Durham for a brief period.

Turner then smashed a Sowter ball down the ground for six, but Kelly fell at the hands of Kasey Aldridge, who sent the Kiwi’s stumps flying.

Potts then got his first wicket as he bowled Ben Cox, he then got Turner out in the same over as he pulled a short ball to deep square.

Raine then got his wicket as Ben Mike holed out to a fielder in the deep, while Potts picked up his third as he dismissed Foxes skipper Ben Green.

Leicestershire set Durham a target of 149 and the Foxes almost had the wicket of Clark in the first over, as Mike dropped one at deep square after the Durham opener looked to clear the ropes.

Durham looked to set the tone for their chase in the powerplay, with Alex Lees hitting Josh Davey for three boundaries in an over and Clark clubbed four balls from Josh Hull over the ropes.

Having already taken a significant chunk out of the target, Durham kept their foot on the accelerator as Lees smashed one straight down the ground for six.

Clark then clubbed back-to-back sixes off Ben Green to pass fifty off 18 balls, a new record for Durham in T20s.

Leicestershire then had something to cheer about as Mike bowled Lees, ending an opening stand of 107.

That led to a flurry of wickets as Raine was caught on the boundary off Mike and Liam Trevaskis got Clark and David Bedingham.

The damage had been done though and Durham won with plenty of time to spare.