Durham brush Foxes aside

Durham clinched a place in the quarter-finals of the Twenty20 Cup after crushing Leicestershire by six wickets in their final North Division match at Grace Road.

With Mitch Claydon and Ben Harmison taking three wickets apiece, Durham restricted Leicestershire to a meagre 133 for eight despite a fine captain's innings of 63 from Boeta Dippenaar.

Durham then made short work of the run-chase, reaching their target with 22 balls to spare after Australian David Warner struck a blistering 44 off 18 balls in an opening partnership of 75 in seven overs with Phil Mustard.

It was the sort of batting Leicestershire simply could not match on the day. The Durham innings contained 18 fours and four sixes, while the Foxes mustered 13 fours and two sixes.

The hosts stalled early on with the bat, with only five runs coming off the first two overs from Neil Killeen and Claydon.

Mitch Claydon's haul of 3-14 helped limit Leicestershire to 133 for eight as Durham eased to a six-wicket victory

That set the tempo, and the rate rarely rose much above six runs an over as the Durham attack kept a tight grip on things.

James Allenby - Leicestershire’s leading run-scorer in the competition - managed to pull Harmison for six over midwicket, but fell in the same over, driving to Dale Benkenstein at extra cover.

When the big-hitting Jacques du Toit also fell cheaply to a superb delivery from Killeen, Leicestershire were in trouble, and it needed an outstanding effort from Dippenaar to give the innings a semblance of credibility.

Few could offer him much support, however, with six batsmen failing to reach double figures.

Claydon took 3-14 and Harmison 3-28 as the Foxes fell away. They scored just 40 off the final 10 overs.

Dippenaar, having made his first half-century in the competition, was caught behind off Killeen after hitting seven fours and a six off 48 balls.

Warner and Mustard then set the tone for the Dynamos reply with a magnificent opening partnership.

Warner was in superb form, and when he was finally caught at deep midwicket he had smashed five fours and three sixes.

The left-hander eventually fell to left-arm spinner Claude Henderson, who then claimed the wickets of Mustard and Kyle Coetzer to finish with 3-32.

But it was all in vain for Leicestershire as Durham eased home, Benkenstein hitting the winning boundary to book their place in the last eight.