| Royal London One-Day Cup, Roseworth Terrace, Gosforth |
| Durham 229 (48.2 overs): Lees 115, Raine 29; Maxwell 3-42, Onions 2-39 |
| Lancashire 230-7 (49.2 overs): Croft 99, Jones 33*; Raine 2-34 |
| Lancashire (2 pts) won by three wickets |
| Match scorecard |
Steven Croft made 99 as Lancashire beat Durham by three wickets to claim their fourth successive One-Day Cup win.
Chasing a total of 229 engineered chiefly by a brilliant 115 from Alex Lees, in-form Croft took his tally to 375 runs in five cup innings.
But it needed two sixes in successive balls by Durham old boy Graham Onions to see Lancashire to victory.
Onions’ unbeaten 16 included two sixes off Ben Raine over midwicket as the visitors won by three wickets on 230-7.
Even then, with one needed off the final over, Lancshire had Rob Jones put down by Jack Burnham, a sharp low chance to square leg, before scrambling the single that helped him win the match on 33 not out.
Playing their fifth One-Day Cup game at the Newcastle, home of South Northumberland Cricket Club, Durham had won all the previous four.
But their first defeat on Tyneside would have been a lot heavier but for former Yorkshire opener Lees, who made more than half the Durham total in hitting his career-best one-day score, only his second century in List A cricket.
From the depths of 77-5 in the 21st over, he shared a 54-run stand with Raine (29) in helping Durham take their innings to the 49th over.
Lancashire, who are now level on eight points with second-placed Durham in the group after losing their first two matches, now host Derbyshire on Thursday.
Durham are next in action the following day against group leaders Nottinghamshire at Grantham.
From Dean Jones . . . to Alex Lees
It was only the second one-day century made by a Durham player against Lancashire – and neither have been at the Riverside.
The first was way back 27 years ago when Australia’s Dean Jones made 114 in Durham’s very first List A game as a first-class county at The Racecourse, Durham, in a Sunday League game in April 1992.
Former Yorkshire opener Alex Lees hit his highest List A score – only his second one-day century
