LONDON - Saeed Ajmal pulled off perhaps his most encouraging bowling display since the ruling that his action was illegal threatened to end his career as Durham Jets, seemingly well placed for victory, found their lead disappearing in the NatWest T20 Blast North Division.
It looked as though Durham would make light work of their target of 160, but the early dismissal of Mark Stoneman and a middle order collapse ensured that Worcestershire Rapids' 159-5 was sufficient to take the points, Durham losing by three runs.
Ajmal, who returned 3 for 16, was the most successful bowler on view, including the Durham captain Phil Mustard among his wickets before stifling the tail in a manner that left Mustard boiling with frustration. Daryl Mitchell, Durham's captain, said: "Credit to the lads to show some spirit to fight back, helped by a little bit of magic from Saeed Ajmal. The wizard is back and that was a fantastic spell from him."
The start of each of Ajmal's three spells slowed Durham as they looked to be chasing comfortably. Stoneman took a six and three consecutive boundaries off four balls from Ed Barnard immediately prior to Ajmal's initial introduction. The Pakistani served up a maiden to Mustard and the wind was taken from Stoneman's sails as he fell to Shantry immediately after.
After a seven over break, Ajmal returned and immediately dismissed the settled Mustard before deceiving Pringle later in the over. Four overs later and Ajmal was back again, leaving Durham with a near impossible task by dismissing Usman Arshad. Well managed by Mitchell, brilliantly executed by Ajmal.
Ajmal returned to begin his third spell for Worcestershire against Northants the previous week, without success, but, having remodelled his action, faces the challenge of regaining his potency as many pundits believe that his Pakistan career is over. Worcestershire remain adamant that his career is far from spent and he can conjure up reminders of his success of last season when he helped them to promotion in the Championship as well as the Blast quarter-finals.