Durham Match Thread 2019

[Durhamfootman]

I think the temptation will be to acknowledge our lack of batting by packing the side with batsmen assuming, wrongly imo, that the bowling will take care of itself in early season conditions. Too many times last year, the bowling did not take care of itself and we ended up conceding 50, 60, 70 run partnerships waiting for the new ball so that we could throw it to Rushy. Having Salisbury will help, because he wasn't around in the early part of last year and seems to have forged a good opening partnership with Rushy; having Ben Raine will help because he provides us with a genuine 5th bowler option without weakening the batting, but I think we'd be foolish to limit ourselves to 4 bowlers.

[Durhamfootman]

As regards sister as you call him, remember the 2 who supported his inclusion last season are no longer at the club.

fair point

[captaincolly]

Here's the squad:
Alex Lees (c), Gareth Harte, Will Smith, Michael Richardson, Jack Burnham, Stuart Poynter, Ned Eckersley, Ben Raine, James Weighell, Liam Trevaskis, Josh Coughlin, Matt Salisbury, Chris Rushworth


Steel not there because of the concussion he suffered in South Africa a couple of weeks ago! Weighell, Trevaskis and Coughlin contesting two places?

[westoelad]

Here's the squad:
Alex Lees (c), Gareth Harte, Will Smith, Michael Richardson, Jack Burnham, Stuart Poynter, Ned Eckersley, Ben Raine, James Weighell, Liam Trevaskis, Josh Coughlin, Matt Salisbury, Chris Rushworth


Steel not there because of the concussion he suffered in South Africa a couple of weeks ago! Weighell, Trevaskis and Coughlin contesting two places?

No Clark or Carse!
Will they play both Poytner and Eckersley?
It appears that both new and old coaching staff see something members can't see in Poytner.

[captaincolly]

Here's the squad:
Alex Lees (c), Gareth Harte, Will Smith, Michael Richardson, Jack Burnham, Stuart Poynter, Ned Eckersley, Ben Raine, James Weighell, Liam Trevaskis, Josh Coughlin, Matt Salisbury, Chris Rushworth


Steel not there because of the concussion he suffered in South Africa a couple of weeks ago! Weighell, Trevaskis and Coughlin contesting two places?

To me this lineup highlights the uncertainty over the season- if ( big if ) the bowlers stay fit enough we should have a more than useful attack especially with Raine added to it but the batting poses a lot of questions -
Bancroft should score runs as an international and surely will if he's here for any length of time. Steel had a great first year and a decent ( compared to most of the rest in a season where most batsmen around the country seemed to struggle) second one - leading run scorer with 638 ( !) @ 29 with one hundred and 4 half centuries,

Then the ones in the current squad.

Lees-looked classy and think his scores were a vast improvement over his prolonged slump at Yorkshire...but he still only made one half century in 11 innings and scored around 250 runs @ 23. I'd expect him to do well this year but the cold stats show several poor seasons on the trot.

Harte- came from nowhere and did well with 2 centuries but an average of 25. So promising but jury still out.

Smith- admirable character and very useful squad member but never a really prolific run scorer and averaged 21 last year with 2 50's in 17 innings.

Richardson - good and experienced player but another one with fairly modest returns. Similar average last year to Smith but with only one half century in 18 innings.

Clark - excellent in the T20 but very similar to the previous two in the Championship - 460 runs in 22 innings with two 50's.
Jury still out on him then!
Burnham - who knows how he will fare after his 'sabbatical' ?

Poynter- average of 25 with 170 of his 475 runs in one innings. It's obviously absurd to ignore a big hundred but other than that one innings I can't remember any others of note in his time here.

Eckersley - a decent record and another useful looking player but why did Leicester release him?

Raine-should be an excellent signing but my impression ( which may well be wrong ) is that he's more of a bowling all rounder in FC cricket as opposed to a top 6 batting all-rounder.

Looked up Raine & Eckersley's stats for last year. Raine 11 matches with 371 runs @ 23 and 51 wickets also at around 23.
Eckersley - 220 runs in 12 innings @ 18. Two half centuries so the other 10 innings must have been disastrous! Can't judge him on last year so I looked at 2017 and he had a decent season - 716 runs from 14 games with a hundred and three 50's average just under 30. Raine must have had injury problems in 2017 as he only played 9 games. Still managed to get 50 wickets and top their bowling averages(23.5) Batting return was 300 runs in 17 innings with two 50's and an average of 23.
These stats reinforce my impression of him as an excellent cricketer but more of a bowler in FC games than genuine all-rounder...although a mid-20's batting average means he could well be one of our frontline batters!

All starts at the top for me, if the first three can't get us off to decent starts and keep exposing the middle order to the new ball it will be disastrous. Although ( famous last words ) Rushy, Raine, Salisbury plus whoever else stays fit look like a very good attack so we should get away with below par scores. I think that a par score depends on the quality of the bowlers more than the conditions.

The one mitigating factor in all if those 20-25 averages last year is the average runs per wicket across the country was about 27 and Luke Wright is quoted in The Times today saying batting should be easier this year with a less pronounced seam on the Dukes ball and return of the heavy roller. Of course if that is the case it will make the bowlers less effective and require more runs being scored.

Also in The Times is the season preview - prediction is we will be competitive without gaining promotion and that Lees and Bancroft should deliver valuable top-order runs. If they do then I think we have a more then decent chance of bettering that preduction.

[captaincolly]

Here's the squad:
Alex Lees (c), Gareth Harte, Will Smith, Michael Richardson, Jack Burnham, Stuart Poynter, Ned Eckersley, Ben Raine, James Weighell, Liam Trevaskis, Josh Coughlin, Matt Salisbury, Chris Rushworth


Steel not there because of the concussion he suffered in South Africa a couple of weeks ago! Weighell, Trevaskis and Coughlin contesting two places?

No Clark or Carse!
Will they play both Poytner and Eckersley?
It appears that both new and old coaching staff see something members can't see in Poytner.

I'd have thought Carse would have been a certainty ahead of Coughlin unless he's injured yet again! Although legsidelizzy has chosen two 'players to watch' for the season and her picks for us were Coughlin and Ben Whitehead.
Unless they feel runs will be at a premium early on and are going for an attack they feel is more likely to keep the pressure on with tight lines and lengths - although is that Coughlin's style? Not very quick so he should have control.

[Durhamfootman]

Didn't Harte open in one of the warm up games?

[captaincolly]

Didn't Harte open in one of the warm up games?

Yes he did. Against Durham MCCU and made a century in the second innings.

[captaincolly]

According to Martin Emmerson's match notes Carse, Potts and Weighell are all fit, so they must just have been left out for this game. Rather ironic that the one time they are fit they don't even make the squad.

Emmerson also reckons Eckersley could be the first choice keeper - his reckoning is that he has a better average and Poynter is likely to be leaving at the end of the year in any case. We will see if he's correct!

Rushy apparently was keen to take in the captaincy but Emmerson suggests the combination of his benefit year and the possibility of resting him at times in white ball cricket counted against him.

The other interesting thing he says is that the wording of Franklin's job title -Lead High Performance Coach- has something to do with the legal reasons surrounding Lewis' redundancy deal. I've no idea what that means!

[westoelad]

According to Martin Emmerson's match notes Carse, Potts and Weighell are all fit, so they must just have been left out for this game. Rather ironic that the one time they are fit they don't even make the squad.


Emmerson also reckons Eckersley could be the first choice keeper - his reckoning is that he has a better average and Poynter is likely to be leaving at the end of the year in any case. We will see if he's correct!

Rushy apparently was keen to take in the captaincy but Emmerson suggests the combination of his benefit year and the possibility of resting him at times in white ball cricket counted against him.

The other interesting thing he says is that the wording of Franklin's job title -Lead High Performance Coach- has something to do with the legal reasons surrounding Lewis' redundancy deal. I've no idea what that means!

If they'd called Franklin head coach they would have had to sack JJ. Probably could have claimed unfair dismissal given the trophies we won. With no head coach position, he can be made redundant with only statutory redundancy payment required. Bit naughty but JJ was unpopular with members because of his charisma bypass.
I hope Carse and Potts are fit and Trevasic and Weighell are selected on merit. Suspect Poytner will keep but Eckersly might still play as a batter.

[captaincolly]

Ah right, that makes sense. A new position/title created so as not to dismiss Lewis and fill the same position.

[westoelad]

Those omitted are fit and playing v Sir ITB's XI at Raby Castle on Sunday.

Durham XI: Cameron Steel (c), Ross Greenwell, Graham Clark, Brydon Carse, Matty Potts, George Harding, Tom Dowson, Scott Steel, Oliver Gibson, Ash Thorpe, Callum Thorp

[captaincolly]

Those omitted are fit and playing v Sir ITB's XI at Raby Castle on Sunday.

Durham XI: Cameron Steel (c), Ross Greenwell, Graham Clark, Brydon Carse, Matty Potts, George Harding, Tom Dowson, Scott Steel, Oliver Gibson, Ash Thorpe, Callum Thorp

What are the chances they won't all still be fit after the game!

[Durhamfootman]

Callum Thorp?

[captaincolly]

Callum Thorp?

He works at the Riverside and looks no different to 5 years ago so he'd probably still be moe likely to stag fit than those youngsters!