Durham Match Thread 2025

[Durhamfootman]

like the CC campaign

[Durhamfootman]

if anyone was in any doubt about why we shoved Borthwick into the reserves, I point out his stats for this comp. 4 games... 21 runs.... 21

[captaincolly]

if anyone was in any doubt about why we shoved Borthwick into the reserves, I point out his stats for this comp. 4 games... 21 runs.... 21

Yes, must admit I was calling for him to be recalled....and was wrong!

[Durhamfootman]

I'm heading down to the ground shortly, not knowing quite what to expect. Will it be the Lotus Elan or the Charlie Cairoli clown car?

[Durhamfootman]

We’re making hard work of the batting. 36-1 after 10

Another green top. OHD is giving nothing away.

Pitch is green and fairly central, so I reckon this is the pitch for the QF

[Durhamfootman]

We keep throwing wickets away needlessly. Robbo coming down the pitch and top edging a short ball straight up in the air. Rhodes and Gay hooking, one a feather to the keeper and the other down the throat of the boundary rider. Gay would have been out for one had bamber not spilled a straightforward catch at long leg.

And despite all these risky shots we are still only plodding along at 4 an over

[Durhamfootman]

As before, we lose a wicket to the ball after the 50 partnership came up. Short ball….. of course…. A mere tried to tip it over the keeper, but tipped it straight to him instead

[Durhamfootman]

Bowman…. A new name on me. was he not playing for Arsenal yesterday?

[Durhamfootman]

Dowman... close

anyway, got bowled all ends up by the spinner for 1. A very Durham-esque performance..... he'll fit in well

since i came away, we have made a bit of a recovery. 275-7 and an outside chance of reaching 300. An hour ago 200 looked more likely

[Durhamfootman]

naturally we were unable to defend it

Barnard.... of course

it was looking tight with Warks needing 25 off 3.4, but knocked that off with more than 2 overs left, so I'm guessing those 3 sixes from Booth all came in the last 4 balls that Connors bowled

It was clearly disappointing today. I left before our innings ended because, frankly, I was bored sh1tless. It was like watching paint dry

all we have now is an important QF, with us in no form whatsoever and our 100 heroes either not playing, barely playing, or playing themselves out of any form they may have had at the start of the month

at least we consigned Borthwick back into the bin

[captaincolly]

Another annoying defeat. I'm dog sitting so couldn't go but sounds as if it was one worth missing.
We seem to have a habit of losing the key parts of the games, usually competitive but have a few bad overs at the worst possible time.
Barnard another nemesis - the list keeps getting longer!
Lees and Raine superb again but not enough support from the others.

[Durhamfootman]

scoring looked difficult on yet another green top.

Our top order (those not called Lees) all frustrated themselves out playing stupid shots. You know there's a problem when a fielder is moved to a catching position for the short ball, the whole crowd can see that there's a short ball coming and yet we still take it on and hit down the throat of that fielder.

Robbo going on manoeuvers in the 6th over and spooning it straight up
Rhodes going for the hook and feathering it straight to the keeper
Gay suckered not once but twice into top edging to long leg
Ackers trying to tip a short ball over the keeper and tipping it straight to him instead

These were all stupid shot choices

Only Lees kept his head in the first 2 and half hours. We got what we deserved, really

[Durhamfootman]

the other thing that struck me as odd.... for all that scoring was tough early on, Bamber struggled to adjust his line from left hander to right hander and Robbo spanked him to the boundary 3 times. The reason I was cross with Robbo giving it away stupidly was that I was pretty sure that Bamber was going to be pulled from the attack at the end of that over because he was bowling some rubbish from the lumley end, whilst OHD was giving nothing away at all from the Finchale end. Once Bamber had 2 left handers to work with, he switched around the wicket permanently and was instantly more threatening and more accurate, yet at no stage did we think to bring Ackers in early to make the bowler change his lines, so he dominated the batting. The wicket of Robbo kept Bamber in the attack and it looked as though they were going to bowl him out in one spell. Rhodes nicked his first ball just past the despairing dive of 1st slip, hit anything straight confidently to the legside, then edged another between keeper and first slip. Keeper didn't move for some reason and 1st slip could only tip the ball away for 4 to long stop. Then they bounced him and he top edged his pull just safe between 3 running fielders, so they tried it again and he gave it away immediately. Gay was on one when he top edged to long leg, only to see Bamber spill it, but after some scratching around he did it again and holed out

we nearly doubled our score in the last 14 overs and Warks did something similar, so I can't help but feel that our impatience with the bat cost us that game. Both sides had an opener that batted pretty much right through, but we had to wait until Raine to give ours some support, whereas Barnard got a couple of partners able to stay with him

[Durhamfootman]

and I look at the figures of Connors and Bailey each time they play and I keep thinking that we have somehow contrived to lose the one that we really should have kept, because Killeen seems to me to be the real deal. We are going to rue losing him, I think, and it's hard to understand how a young player with roots in DCCC as deep as his, could end up going... or wanting to go. Something funny going on there, I reckon

[Durhamfootman]

it feels a little as though we've risked the whole season for this tournament and this moment. Will we rise to the occasion or will we stuff it up? Hampshire's white ball season is on a roll, while we've allowed ours to splutter and fizzle out