A solid 47 off 35 with the bat and 2/7 with the ball in game 2 from Justin Broad was the highlight for Northamptonshire 2XI but they fell to two T20 defeats against Durham 2XI.

The first T20 took place yesterday at Campbell Park with Northamptonshire’s T20 Captain David Willey and new signing Ravi Bopara both involved.

Durham 2XI won the toss and elected to bowl first, a decision which paid off immediately as George Hargrave, Gus Miller and Ravi Bopara all fell inside the first two overs.

At 3/3, David Willey and Saif Zaib needed a partnership to steady the Northamptonshire innings. The pair put on 31 together before Zaib picked out Bas de Leede on the off side for a quick 15 off 8.

Willey managed 24 at a run a ball before being stumped off the bowling off Nathan Sowter. Justin Broad 28 (22) and James Sales 28 (19) were the only other 2XI batters to make it into the twenties and Northamptonshire found themselves 124 all out.

Jonathan Bushnell and Ben McKinney put on an opening stand of 73 before McKinney fell for 23 off the bowling of Bopara.

The only other wicket to fall was the one of Bas de Leede, bowled brilliantly by Alex Russell. However, Durham would go on to secure a comfortable eight wicket victory thanks to an unbeaten 78 from Bushnell.

The second game was much closer, with the 2XI this time losing by 6 runs.

Durham won the toss and elected to bat and at the halfway stage they were going nicely at 78/2. Miller and Heldreich the ones to take the wickets.

The 2XI responded by restricting Durham to 117/5 thanks to two wickets from Tommy Sturgess and one from Alex Russell. A quickfire 34 run partnership between Killeen and Sowter helped Durham finish on 164/7 after 20 overs. Justin Broad taking the other two wickets in his two over spell, conceding just 7 runs from it.

Despite the early loss of Gus Miller, the 2XI got off to a flying start courtesy of Hargrave and Willey. The pair put on a 49 run partnership inside the first five overs. Willey fell in the first ball of the sixth over, top edging one off the bowling of Oliver Gibson and the 2XI were 54/2.

Two more wickets had fallen by the halfway stage and the batting side were 90/4 as Hargrave fell for an impressive 41 and Zaib for 12.

Justin Broad made 47 from 35 and was there until the penultimate over but unfortunately for the 2XI they fell short by 6 runs, ending 158/9 in reply to Durham’s 164/7.

The 2XI are back in T20 action on Tuesday 21st May at Stowe School, where they face Cardiff UCCE in a T20 double header.