MacLeod starts with a bang

Durham 173 for 4 (MacLeod 80*, Collingwood 62) beat Worcestershire 144 (Oliver 43, Collingwood 3-29) by 29 runs
Scorecard

Former England captain Paul Collingwood starred with bat and ball as the Durham got their NatWest T20 Blast campaign off to a winning start.

Collingwood smashed 62 off 38 balls and took three for 29 as Durham, who had been put in by Worcestershire, cruised to a 29-run victory at Chester-le-Street.

He was ably assisted by debutant Calum MacLeod with the pair putting on 113 for the fourth wicket after a dreadful start had seen Durham slump to 4 for 2.

Opener Phil Mustard fell leg before to Moeen Ali off the fourth ball of the innings for just one and captain Mark Stoneman followed him back to the pavilion eight balls later after picking out Moeen at square leg off the bowling of Jack Shantry to leave the home side in tatters.

Things did not improve markedly in the short run with Scott Borthwick holing out at mid-on to give Shantry a second wicket with the Jets having progressed to 33 in the sixth over.

But it was then that MacLeod and Collingwood steadied the ship, adding 113 for the fourth wicket, the former reaching 50 of 40 balls and the latter taking nine deliveries fewer.

MacLeod's unbeaten 80 included seven fours and two sixes, while Collingwood struck three sixes and five fours before top-edging Saeed Ajmal to Daryl Mitchell.

Shantry was the pick of the bowlers with two for 25 from his four overs, with Ajmal's wicket costing him 45 runs.

Worcestershire's chase started positively with opener Ali racing to 21 before Usman Arshad had him caught by MacLeod at square leg, and although Richard Oliver battled his way to 43 before falling to a stunning diving catch in the deep by Gordon Muchall off Collingwood, the visitors succumbed tamely.

Arshad took 2 for 21 and Gareth Breese 2 for 26, but it was Collingwood who broke the back of the Worcestershire innings.