Collingwood leads Durham to victory

Paul Collingwood showed the form which made him a mainstay of the England one-day team for a decade as his innings of 73 helped Durham to an easy Clydesdale Bank 40 group win over Hampshire at the Rose Bowl.

Collingwood shared a stand of 142 with Michael Di Venuto, who made 70, as Durham reached an impressive 210 for 5, despite two stoppages for rain which reduced the match to 34 overs aside.

Hampshire, chasing a revived target of 216 under the Duckworth-Lewis method, never looked like managing it and could only muster a paltry 134 all out. That gave Durham victory by 81 runs and earned them their fifth win in eight group matches to keep alive their hopes of reaching the semi-finals.

Hampshire's defeat was their fifth in seven matches as they were comprehensively outplayed. The turning point was the stand between Collingwood and Di Venuto in 20 overs with Collingwood hitting five fours and two sixes in his 63-ball innings.

Collingwood looked set for a century until he lifted Sean Ervine to mid-off where Liam Dawson clutched the catch. There was late hitting by Gareth Breese, including a six off Chris Wood, to take Durham past the 200 mark.

Hampshire needed a swift start and they failed to get it once James Vince had been carelessly run out by a throw from the deep by Liam Plunkett while going for a third run. Vince's opening partner Jimmy Adams was top scorer with 24 but when he was bowled by Breese's second ball, Hampshire quickly fell away.

Breese and fellow spinners Scott Borthwick and Ian Blackwell found plenty of turn in the pitch to help them and there was little cheer for a small home crowd.

The only resistance came from Michael Carberry and Hamza Riazuddin in a stand of 38 for the sixth wicket, but even that took nearly eight overs as Hampshire rapidly fell behind the run requirement.

Breese also accounted for Ervine and Benny Howell to finish with figures of three for 19 from seven overs while Borthwick and Blackwell each took two wickets. So too did Mitchell Claydon, who put Hampshire out of their misery with 11 balls to spare when he bowled last man David Griffiths.