Another dismal night for Steelbacks as they are downed by Durham Jets

It was David Ripley’s men’s seventh defeat in eight matches in this season’s competition, and means they stay rooted to the bottom of the North table, with just one point to their name.

Northants turned in an improved bowling and fielding performance as they restricted the Jets to 170 for four in their 20 overs.

But that total proved to be more than enough as the Steelbacks were shot out for just 95, never recovering from being 18 for three and then 57 for five.

Seekkuge Prasanna top scored for Northants with 22, and Steven Crook made 21, but the County were never in the hunt with the bat as they were rolled over in 17 overs.

Imran Tahir was the Steelbacks’ tormentor in chief as he claimed four for 16 in his four overs, with James Weighell and Nathan Rimmington claiming two wickets apiece.

Earlier, Durham recovered from a slow start to make a decent score, with veteran Paul Collingwood hitting an unbeaten 50 from 42 balls, and decent contributions coming from Graham Clark (29) and Liam Trevaskis (26).

For Northants, Nathan Buck was the pick of the bowlers, taking one for 21 from his four overs, and Richard Gleeson claimed one for 32 from his four.

The Steelbacks are back in action on Friday night when they travel to Headingley to take on Yorkshire Vikings, and they then host Birmingham Bears at the County Ground on Sunday afternoon.