Durham Match Thread 2026

[captaincolly]

Is he?

I thought any appearances had been put back to May, but I'll be happy to see him in the side

Looked it up and you're right. I thought the injury ruled him out of the first 2 games and he'd be back against Lancashire but Campbell says it's likely to be Worcestershire in May.

[Durhamfootman]

I see that no England women are allowed to play tomorrow.... so it's typical that we play Essex, who as far as I know don't have any England players... they didn't last year at least

However, we play Surrey at the weekend and England players will be available for that fixture.... about half a dozen of them probably, in the case of Surrey.... but we'll get Filer back, maybe.... woo hoo England might let her bowl 5 overs again

[Durhamfootman]

311-3

A big innings from Talhia Wilson batting all the way through to the final ball

Support from Emma Marlow with 53 and Hollie A with a quick fire 81

Our batting depth did not get tested at all, hence the big score

in our first 9 overs, we have bowled 11 wides..... 11!

[Durhamfootman]

10 overs 45-0

only 33 came off the bat

[Durhamfootman]

Wickets are falling now. I think we managed to tie their reply down nicely, despite all the wides. At the half way point, Essex had barely eaten a third of the target away, so something had to give and the next 11 overs saw us take 4-55

Essex require 138 in 13 overs, so pushing up to 11 an over. It's turned overcast, the wind is up, it's dark and they're wearing sunglasses

[Durhamfootman]

12 an over required from the last 10. Fielders are well spread out, so plenty of singles for Essex which will suit us down to the ground

[Durhamfootman]

The 5th wicket partnership for Essex pushed it fairly close, without ever looking likely to get there. In reality they were just given far too much to do by their top order. They really didn't push hard early on and I wonder if DLS was playing on their minds a bit given the likelihood of rain. They seemed to prioritise not losing wickets, rather than chasing the runs and seeing the par score rapidly increase if they lost wickets. I don't know, it just seemed an odd way to proceed. Had they pushed a bit harder, earlier, they might have won that

20 wides we bowled. Far too many and we need to work on that because it'll kill us in another game. In fairness Essex gave us 19 wides, but then they are alongside us as one of the poorer tier 1 teams and the better sides won't hand us that many.... Surrey won't be that generous on Saturday, I'm sure, but we might

Good win, but plenty of work to do. Essex are one of the bottom half teams that we have to beat in this competition to have any chance of a mid table finish

[Durhamfootman]

If I was to sum up our bowling today, ignoring the wides, I would say that we bowled with reasonable control, but little penetration or threat