THEY used their permanent floodlights for the first time at the Emirates ICG and by the end of the evening it was Yorkshire Vikings who were in the dark after they lost to the Durham Jets by six runs in the NatWest T20 Blast.

Needing 183 to win, Andrew Gale’s men fell foul of medium pacer Keaton Jennings, who took a career-best 4-37 in a game where Yorkshire’s batsmen were unable to match the late-innings acceleration which Mark Stoneman’s men had managed.

They came mighty close, though. Tim Bresnan’s 36 not out, which included a six off the last ball, and some bold hitting by Liam Plunkett (17) had put the Vikings in with a chance but some sound catching and Jennings’s inspired spell were too much for them.

Indeed, Yorkshire’s innings had got off to a bad start with both Andrew Hodd and Alex Lees falling for single-figures inside the first four overs.

Gale and Jonny Bairstow then added 50 in six overs before Bairstow was bowled trying to hit Jennings across the line. Glenn Maxwell fell lbw for eight to the same bowler as did Rich Pyrah for six, leaving Yorkshire needing 78 off 6.2 overs.

Yorkshire also lost skipper Andrew Gale, who trod on his wicket when he had made 41, his third successive 40-plus score in short-form cricket, and it was left to Plunkett and Bresnan to shoulder what turned out to be an impossible burden.

Earlier, Durham’s openers Mark Stoneman and Phil Mustard had put on 30 in 3.2 overs before Stoneman was pouched at slip by Lees off Plunkett for 20.

Mustard then made a decent job of maintaining the run rate, despite the loss of Calum MacLeod, caught by Bresnan off Adil Rashid for eight.

After ten overs Durham were 74-2 but two balls later Mustard was well taken by Rashid at long on off Maxwell for 39, made off 34 balls.

Although Paul Collingwood and Gordon Muchall consolidated their team’s position, Durham were 106-3 after 15 overs before 30 runs were taken off 12 balls bowled by Maxwell and Plunkett at the cost Collingwood, who was bowled by his former colleague Plunkett for 32.

That, though, was only the prelude to a formidable onslaught led by the strongly built John Hastings who immediately whacked two fours off Plunkett.

All bowling came alike to the Australian whose 16-ball innings of 37 included five fours and two sixes. He clubbed 18 runs off Bresnan’s final four balls of the innings and 76 runs were scored off the final five overs. Plunkett, with 2-30, was the most successful Yorkshire bowler.

There was no doubt that a challenge had been thrown down to Yorkshire. By the end of the evening that they had just failed to meet it.