Durham Match Thread 2024

[Durhamfootman]

Lees was very, very unhappy at his lbw decision. I've watched the replay and he has a point. The ball clearly hit him on the pads outside the off stump and the only way he could have been given out is if he hadn't been playing a shot, except he was playing a shot. Umpire gave it almost no thought at all, he just immediately stuck up the finger. Looks as though Lees chuntered as he walked off, so doubtless Durham will be deducted 10 points or relegated, or stripped of hosting women's cricket or something

[captaincolly]

Lees was very, very unhappy at his lbw decision. I've watched the replay and he has a point. The ball clearly hit him on the pads outside the off stump and the only way he could have been given out is if he hadn't been playing a shot, except he was playing a shot. Umpire gave it almost no thought at all, he just immediately stuck up the finger. Looks as though Lees chuntered as he walked off, so doubtless Durham will be deducted 10 points or relegated, or stripped of hosting women's cricket or something

Sounds like a shocker.

[Durhamfootman]

2 wickets in consecutive overs for Dawson. A rare failure for Robbo, but that we are being undone by spin is entirely predictable

[Durhamfootman]

rather less predictably, we didn't lose a wicket in the last over before the interval

[captaincolly]

I was going to say this partnership had steadied the ship- Clark run out! We need to be careful here, still plenty of time left in the match.

[Durhamfootman]

I was beginning to count down to 149 behind

was it a dozy run out?

[captaincolly]

I was beginning to count down to 149 behind

was it a dozy run out?

Not sure. Direct hit from short fine leg according to Emmerson.

[captaincolly]

Excellent partnership between Raine and Parkinson. Barring a disaster it should be a draw now.

[Durhamfootman]

it's been a feature of our season back in the top flight. When we bat first we charge along at 4+ an over. When we don't, we concede big totals and find ourselves having to temper our aggressive approach to make sure we don't throw the game away by being a bit reckless.

I still have no idea why Warks batted on until they had virtually 700, nor why Hants batted so slowly and carefully even when nothing was happening with the ball. I can only imagine that both sides thought that if they could bat big, they'd then give us the best chance to fall apart all by ourselves. The thing with our top 6 is that even with Borthwick and Clark not yet firing on all cylinders, the others have runs in them irrespective of any scoreboard pressure. Plus, even when the top 6 are out, we seem to have runs all the way down the order

[Durhamfootman]

and I know there are still members who feel that we signed the wrong brother... they continually post twaddly clips of brother Matt's big turning wicket taking balls and sneeringly refer to brother Callum as an off cutter bowler, yet actually their stats for the season are quite similar. Matt has bowled 188 overs and taken 16 wickets at an average just shy of 50 with an econ of 4.23. Callum has bowled 140 overs and taken 13 wickets at 46 with an econ of 4.31, so these claims feel a bit spurious to me

I saw Matt take a wicket in one of the kookaburra matches this season that turned out of the rough like the Gatting ball, but Callum's wicket of Middleton in this match was a thing of beauty... worth going back to the match highlights if you haven't seen it yet

[captaincolly]

I must admit I was one who had wished we'd signed Matt but Callum is winning me over ( I'm fickle that way!)
I hope I'm not tempting fate but assuming this ends in a draw it'll have been a solid start to the season. Not firing on all cylinders as you say but we don't seem out of our depth at all.
I'm putting the lack of success for the seamers down to conditions because they surely all can't have lost the knack of taking wickets at the same time.

[Durhamfootman]

Clark's run out was clear case of ball watching. Got an inside edge and while he looked to see where it had gone, Bedders sprinted down the track. On another day Clark would have got home, but it was great throw

[Durhamfootman]

I reckon Dawson will have sore hands by tonight. 64 overs he's bowled in this innings.... 64!

[Durhamfootman]

432 all out

every wicket barring Clarky's run out fell to spin, which probably isn't surprising given that 109 of the 149 overs bowled were bowled by the 2 spinners

another 50 for Ben Raine

[Durhamfootman]

only 260 odd runs were scored yesterday, so we must have gone full Boycott

I don't mind that. When Hants take as long as they did to score 500, the best way to lose would have been to go charging after fast runs. I'm pleased that we aren't a one trick batting pony