Cricket-Match-Special ... A forum for discussion

I'll start the new thread with a nod to 2020 as the club announce the player awards for last season

Alex Lees picked up the Bob Willis Trophy player award scoring 386 runs at an average of 48

Alex also picked up the members player of the year award after he added a further 365 runs in the Dribble at an average of 52

He scored more than 100 runs than anyone else in each format. He was the only player to register a century and his 7 half centuries across the two formats were 5 more than anyone else. Where would we have been without him?

Bob Willis performance of the season went to Rushy when he took his 500th FC wicket as part of a 7 wicket haul against Notts. Only the 3rd Durham player to do this.... and to think we initially released him early in his career because he wasn't deemed good enough and only brought him back when we faced an injury crisis

T20 player of the season went to Matty Potts not just for his 13 wickets at 18's, but as much for producing career best bowling performances in 3 successive wins, culminating with a 3-8 demolition of Lancashire where he lifted 3 wickets in his first over

Moment of the T20 went to Ben Raine for his extraordinary 71 against Derbyshire. Extraordinary, because it was so unexpected

he came in with Durham in a decent match position and proceeded to scratch around for a bit. Then he suddenly exploded... 3 runs off 8 balls became 9 off 10, became 17 off 14, 31 off 18, 44 off 25......... he nicked off for 71 off 39 balls having deposited 8 maximums into the stands. Only the second Durham player to do this. Lees carried his bat for 77 and Durham had their highest ever T20 score of 223 and only their second ever 200+ score

Lees has definitely proved to be an excellent signing. I was quite confident that would be the case.
I wonder when any decision on whether or not Bancroft is returning will be taken.

Too late for me in the all year round fantasy league. I was going to pick him as one of my two players, but I couldn't risk it, even though I think he'll be back this year

Interestingly he's been hopeless for Perth in the big bash and they only started winning when they dropped him. Now I thought he would have made a big difference to us in 2019 in the Dribble had Australia not called him up, but perhaps not.

Ridiculous as it sounds, I'm more worried about our bowling than our batting.... which shows you how silly I've become

As always, we remain heavily over-reliant on Rushy and to a lesser extent Raine. Salisbury made some progress last year, but Carse was as impotent as he was profligate after his work with England. Too early to tell with Potts.....he hasn't really had a red ball run and Coughlin..... well the less said the better.... 3 wickets at 101 with an econ of nearly 4 an over

It would be helpful to have better access to Woody, but that won't happen even if England don't want to play him

at least Borthwick gives us a bit of a spin option if we're desperate and Rushy is shagged out from over-use.

A big year for Sean Dickson. Woeful last year, but might do better one year on. A return to some sort of form would be most useful. If Bancroft returns and opens with Lees, with Borthwick at 3, the pressure will to some extent be off Dickson. If he can secure a place in the side it gives us the option of playing Harte at 6 instead of the Notts numpty. He may not have scored any runs last year, but he did at least take a long time to not score them. He faced 355 balls for his 97 runs in 8 innings

It's captaincy and selection that are my concerns,specifically deciding to bat when winning the toss,particularly at the Riverside, and the persistent selection of Coughlin who went wicketless after the 1st game.
An attack of Rushy, Raine, Potts and Salisbury is very strong,problem is there's no proven back up apart from the inconsistent Carse.
A top 3 batting of Lees, Bancroft and Borthwick should form a solid foundation for Bedingham, Harte and Burnham to build on.
Be interesting to see if Scott Steel develops at Leicester.

I think Carse will start ahead of Potts, purely for his extra pace. I'd be quite happy with that, tbh, because I do think he's a prospect albeit with some work to do on his control.

Coughlin, on the other hand, is worse than useless, he's a liability too. Last year's batting average of 19 and bowling average of 101 says it all....... drinks carrier!

westoelad wrote:It's captaincy and selection that are my concerns,specifically deciding to bat when winning the toss,particularly at the Riverside, and the persistent selection of Coughlin who went wicketless after the 1st game.
An attack of Rushy, Raine, Potts and Salisbury is very strong,problem is there's no proven back up apart from the inconsistent Carse.
A top 3 batting of Lees, Bancroft and Borthwick should form a solid foundation for Bedingham, Harte and Burnham to build on.
Be interesting to see if Scott Steel develops at Leicester.

Yes. This obsession with choosing to bat first baffles me. We were all complaining about the unvontested toss rule but as soon as it went we started winning the toss and batting - with predictable consequences.

Colly often chose to bat first, of course. We had a much stronger top order then, though. I wonder what happened to them?

Durhamfootman wrote:Colly often chose to bat first, of course. We had a much stronger top order then, though. I wonder what happened to them?

Judging by his size IDB ate them all.

Durhamfootman wrote:
Coughlin, on the other hand, is worse than useless, he's a liability too. Last year's batting average of 19 and bowling average of 101 says it all....... drinks carrier!

Agreed, but confined to The Stickywicket.

westoelad wrote:

Durhamfootman wrote:Colly often chose to bat first, of course. We had a much stronger top order then, though. I wonder what happened to them?

Judging by his size IDB ate them all.

westoelad wrote:

Durhamfootman wrote:
Coughlin, on the other hand, is worse than useless, he's a liability too. Last year's batting average of 19 and bowling average of 101 says it all....... drinks carrier!

Agreed, but confined to The Stickywicket.

I also think in the Colly days a first innings score of around 200 was a good one. Either the pitch or the bowling seems more unpredictable these days.