No excuses from Lehmann as Steelbacks are denied home quarter-final by dominant Durham
Head coach Darren Lehmann admitted the Steelbacks were totally outplayed in their nine-wicket hammering at the hands of Durham on Friday night.
The north east county claimed the honours in the 'winner takes all' contest for a home tie in the Vitality Blast quarter-finals, cruising past the Steelbacks' 203 for five with more than three overs to spare.
The defeat means Northants finished fourth in the North Group table, and will have to travel to South Group winners Surrey in the last eight, with the match being played at the Oval in London on Wednesday, September 3.
Durham will have a home clash with Hampshire Hawks.
The Steelbacks racked up the runs okay at Chester-le-Street, with skipper David Willey hitting 63 from 32 balls and Matt Breetzke 52 from 35 as they went past the 200 mark for the third game in a row, but the total proved to be far from enough as Durham powered their way to victory.
Skipper Alex Lees thrashed 101 not out from just 49 balls and Graham Clark 79 from 41 balls as Durham put on 181 for the first wicket, eventually cruising to victory in the 17th over.
Northants were 181 for two with four overs to go before a mini collapse, and Lehmann admitted: "They bowled quite well in those last four overs.
"We probably would have liked 10 or 15 more but the way they hit them, we probably needed 20 or 30 more.
"It was a great wicket to have 420 runs or something in 37 overs is pretty special. Small ground, quick outfield, it's a fans' delight isn't it.
"I think we batted well, and we got 200 again, and we were maybe 10 or 15 short if we are being really harsh.
"But we just didn't bowl as well as we would have liked, especially early on, we were a bit wayward and not where we wanted to be, so we have a bit of work to do."
The Steelbacks bowlers endured a torrid time as Durham eased to victory, with only David Willey and Luke Procter of the seven used conceding fewer than 10 runs an over, and Lehmann said: "When you are on good wickets, you have to find a combination, and sadly we didn't.
"I thought Lloyd Pope bowled a couple of good ones, but we couldn't find that combination, they kept coming at us.
"They played well and we just couldn't get the ball in the right areas enough."
Quotes courtesy of Peter Short