DURHAM’S traditional struggles against spin in Twenty20 cricket continued as they were unable to break free of Lancashire’s stranglehold at Old Trafford.

The unbeaten group leaders employed three twirlers to good effect as Durham limped along to 123 for six after choosing to bat on a sunny evening.

That it was marginally better than their 116 for eight at Headingley on Tuesday owed everything to Gordon Muchall, who made 50 not out at a run-a-ball.

Lancashire continued their usual policy of opening up with one over of leg spin from Francois du Plessis, which the Durham openers treated with great respect in gathering four singles.

Skipper Glen Chapple replaced the South African for the third over and Michael Di Venuto drove his first ball straight into the hands of Paul Horton at cover.

It still proved the most productive of the early overs as Muchall got off the mark with an inside edge for four and followed it with a pick-up behind square for another boundary.

He also pierced the heavily-patrolled covers with a well-timed drive in Chapple’s second over, while Phil Mustard managed only six singles until he cut Sajid Mahmood for four in the sixth over.

With 50 runs from five T20 innings behind him, Mustard had just failed to connect with a slow leg-side full toss from Mahmood, which at his best he would have smashed for six.

Mustard pulled left-arm spinner Steve Parry over the rope as he accelerated to 28 before top-edging to deep backward square when du Plessis returned for the 11th over.

Ian Blackwell, with 20 runs in four innings since his half-century in the opening match at Trent Bridge, made two before he was lbw to 22-year-old Parry.

With only 74 on the board after 13 overs, Dale Benkenstein went for a big hit off Parry and was bowled for five. Then the other left-arm spinner, Gary Keedy, had Will Smith caught at long-on.

Having conceded 11 off his first over, Parry finished with 4-0-21-2, while Keedy had 4-0-22-1 after 13 came off his final over, the 17th.

After his three early fours, Muchall managed only two more as he held the innings together, Ben Harmison dominating the strike and the scoring in an unbroken stand of 17 at the end.