Allrounder Borthwick routs Leicestershire

Durham kept themselves in with a chance of qualifying for the quarter-finals of the Royal London Cup by completing a comfortable victory over a Leicestershire side which has yet to win in the competition this season.

Captain Mark Stoneman, with 98 off 104 balls, and Scott Borthwick (87 off 92) compiled a partnership of 146 for Durham's second wicket after the visitors were put in by Foxes' skipper Mark Cosgrove.

Phil Mustard lost his middle stump to an Ollie Freckingham in-swinger for 12, but Stoneman in particular timed the ball superbly, hitting seven fours in going to his half-century off 45 deliveries. He was dropped, however, Andrea Agathangelou grassing a straightforward chance at second slip off the bowling of left-arm fast bowler Atif Sheikh when Stoneman was on just 36.

The left-hander made Leicestershire pay, and looked certain to go on to what would have been a second century in the competition this season when Sheikh returned and Stoneman spliced an attempted pull to give mid-on a simple catch.

Borthwick was unfortunate, run out when a fierce Graham Clark drive was deflected on to the stumps at the non-striker's end by the foot of bowler Freckingham, leaving Borthwick stranded out of his ground, but with wickets in hand, Clark, John Hastings, Ryan Pringle and Callum Macleod could all hit out and did so to good effect in taking Durham to their second-highest total in a one-day game.

Leicestershire lost wickets regularly after beginning their reply, with the only stand of note that of 99 in just 13.5 overs between Lewis Hill and Niall O'Brien. O'Brien had just gone to 50, off 43 balls, when Borthwick found his outside edge, and thereafter it became something of a procession. Only Hill, with 86 at a run a ball, offered any real resistance, and Leicestershire's last chance disappeared when he was given out caught behind sweeping at Borthwick.

The all-rounder also picked up the wickets of Rob Taylor, Liam Hurt and Sheikh to finish with a List A career-best return of 5 for 38.

"It was almost a perfect performance, not just for myself but for the team," said Borthwick. "To get towards 350 was a great team effort, and I came on to bowl at a nice time. New batters were coming in and they were under pressure to score fast and that sort of plays into my hands. There was a little bit of spin out there for me too, which was helpful.

"We knew it was a "must-win" game, and we've kept ourselves in with a chance of going on. Now we have a massive game in the county championship, against Yorkshire at Scarborough. We had a good result there last season, and if we can do that again we'll be back in the championship race."