Durham Match Thread 2026

[Durhamfootman]

Luke Hollman with a career best OD score

of course!

contract extension will be in the post tomorrow

[Arthur Crabtree]

Hard luck chaps. Looks a good contest though.

[captaincolly]

here we go

the usual 7 down with over a hundred still to get and only bowlers to do it and we concede the obligatory big 8th wicket partnership

the group game went to the wire and we lost a game we probably should have won and the same thing is happening here

Yes, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Really poor performance to lose that from when the 7th wicket fell. Has been a decent campaign but just not good enough with either bat - that lineup flattered to deceive- or ball. Still now we can focus on the promotion campaign- virtually a certainty according to The Cricketer. It should be but...

[captaincolly]

Seems strange that Rhodes only bowled 2 overs.

[Durhamfootman]

I thought that

the 2 overs from Kapt Kasey stood out.... for all the wrong reasons

I think out of all the junior bowlers, Ghafari has impressed me the most. Looks a wicket taking threat, even if he does go for a few sometimes.

[captaincolly]

Agreed. Think he is on a one year deal? Definitely should be extended.

[Durhamfootman]

squad

Colin Ackermann, Kasey Aldridge, David Bedingham, Brydon Carse, Graham Clark, Alex Lees*, Ben McKinney, Duanne Olivier, Callum Parkinson, Matthew Potts, Will Rhodes, Luke Robinson, Ollie Robinson+, Ben Stokes.

no BR who has a baby due imminently

Presumably we'll have been told to play Carse, Sir Laurence hasn't got a hope in hell of being selected and Big Like feels unlikely

I'm guessing Lees, McK, Rhodes, Bedders, Stokes, Clark, Robbo, Carse, Aldridge, Potts, Parky

presumably there is the possibility of Ackers instead of Parky if it's a green top or the weather looks rubbish, but I hope we don't do that. We've always found it hard to take final innings wickets with no full time spinner in the side

[Durhamfootman]

and with Stokes, Carse, Aldridge and Potts as the seam attack, with no Raine to control the scoring rate, it could be a high scoring affair, so we'll need to bring our batting A game

[andy]

Good to see Stokes playing red ball love he still wants to domestic cricket

[captaincolly]

Yes, sounds as if he will continue next season as well.
Delayed start at Derbyshire - forecast looks better this afternoon but don't know if they had rain yesterday.

[Durhamfootman]

Presumably we'll have been told to play Carse, Sir Laurence hasn't got a hope in hell of being selected and Big Like feels unlikely

not for the first time I'm wrong. Let's hope we aren't

[Durhamfootman]

start delayed..... of course

[captaincolly]

Decent day in the end. Suspect it was a good toss to win and we were lucky it wasn't one of those on -off days with regular breaks. Solid start and hopefully setting a platform for a big first innings score- although forecast for tomorrow isn't great.

[Durhamfootman]

looking around the grounds, yesterday might have been a good day to not play much cricket, batting first. Lots of teams found themselves in deep trouble early on

only Somerset/Essex and Hants/Yorks managed to get a full day's play in

[Durhamfootman]

I get the sense that this is a tricky pitch/conditions, so 283 might not be a bad total, especially given Derbys finished on 127-6

Nothing for Carse apart from the worst economy amongst our bowlers. Nothing for Sir Laurence either.... after 3 overs, I thought perhaps he had fixed his tendency to leak boundaries, but after 6 overs it seems I may have been a tad presumptuous

Plenty of time for the obligatory 8/9/10 substantial partnerships, but a decent day 2, I think