Down by the Riverside 2023

[westoelad]

Confirmed now on club website.
https://twitter.com/DurhamCricket/statu ... 2343985433

[Durhamfootman]

I had a feeling it was going to be him. Good signing... very good signing, I think. What's his availability?

[Durhamfootman]

Australia have no test matches next summer and Boland doesn't feature for them in white ball and doesn't go to the IPL, so I'm hoping he'll be with us all season.

I'm looking forward to it already. In theory he ought to be a right handful for county batting line ups, he certainly is in the shield, and he ought to complement what we already have

[Durhamfootman]

Our Parky has been called up for a lions winter tour along with Potts, Carse and Robinson (in Robbo we trust)

[Durhamfootman]

until the end of July according to the beeb. Available for both CC and dribble, seemingly

[Durhamfootman]

from the cricketer magazine

The dust has barely settled on Durham's promotion back to Division One, but they have already fired one of the first big shots for 2024 with the signing of Scott Boland for the first two-thirds of the season.

The 34-year-old seamer is surely one of the most sought-after overseas signings for any county, given his obvious suitability for bowling in the County Championship.

Added to that, he is far from guaranteed to play every Test for Australia in their home season, and it seems is not currently in the reckoning for international or franchise white-ball cricket.

It is Durham who have got him – helped, no doubt, by the presence of former Australia internationals Ryan Campbell as head coach and Marcus North as director of cricket.

Campbell told The Cricketer: "We're really happy with our bowling attack, but we're not 100 per cent what happens with Brydon Carse and Matthew Potts next year, how exactly England wash up.

"We wanted an out-and-out spearhead who can lead our attack, and Scotty is one of those guys."

Much like in 2023, when 27 Australians arrived to play for the 18 counties across the three formats, Campbell thinks there will be a rush to sign the best available Aussies for the first chunk of the county season.

"Australia will have finished all their Test series by April, so I think you'll find a lot of Australians will come to the county scene, because they basically won't have anything on."

In fact it seems an anomaly that Boland has yet to play county cricket – something Campbell attributes to his late development in Australian domestic cricket.

"Scotty is an interesting story, because he started late and burst onto the scene for Australia in that Boxing Day Test [against England in the 2021/22 Ashes]. Once you do that everyone then puts you in cotton wool and makes sure you're going to be OK to play for Australia.

"Before that he hadn't done really well in the Sheffield Shield, until maybe the year or year and a half beforehand, to earn his selection for Australia.

"I think it's a great story that you don't have to be 23 or 24 years of age to play for your country. Guys need to earn their craft and learn their craft, and Scotty has done that."

Boland could be devilishly difficult to face with a red Dukes ball in England in April and May – with perhaps the Riverside as tough a location as any.

Durham, returning to Division One after seven years in the second tier, will be hoping to turn Chester-le-Street into something of a fortress again. When they won back-to-back Championships in 2008 and 2009, they lost just one game at home across those two seasons.

Perhaps more intriguing will be to see how Boland – a line-and-length seamer – copes with the demands of T20 when, as expected, he takes his place in Durham's Blast team from late May.

Fifty-seven of his 62 professional T20 games have come in the Big Bash, for Melbourne Stars and latterly Hobart Hurricanes.

Boland played all his 14 ODIs for Australia in 2016, sandwiching a stint in the IPL with Rising Pune Supergiant.

But since then he has rarely been looked at by T20 franchises, perhaps because of being so closely guarded by Cricket Australia, but also a style of bowling more suited to hitting the top of off-stump.

So it is an intriguing addition to a Durham side which has one of the worst records in the 21 years of T20, and has not reached finals day since 2016.

But it will be an unusual Blast season, in that it will clash with a T20 World Cup being played in the Caribbean and the USA, involving 20 different teams, which will deny counties a number of players in June.

"Our T20 cricket hasn't been great," explained Campbell. "We improved this year but our bowling has been a little bit of an issue, and then there's England selection to think about.

"Our powerplay was a particular concern, and with Scott coming in with us, and with Callum Parkinson and Colin Ackermann joining us, we feel we might have four out of the six overs ticked off."

Campbell cited the example of Peter Siddle, a bowler who played much the same role in the Test team before Boland, as someone who can apply their red-ball skills to T20.

"Scotty hasn't played a heap of T20 cricket. But, just speaking with him, his manager and with Marcus, he's really keen to dip his toe in the water in it.

"Look at Peter Siddle, who was only ever seen in Australia as a red-ball bowler – his last three or four years in T20 were outstanding.

"So I think Scotty is going to give a lot to our T20 team. I think he's an experienced bowler who will work it out very quickly.

"I'm still of the belief that if you're a good new-ball bowler, if you bowl a good length at the start of the innings – a Test length – in the powerplay, with a brand-new ball, 140kph [around 85mph] and swinging it around, it's not always that easy for batters.

"I know England and the counties have so many dashing openers, but if you get it right you can still bowl your normal length, and that's what I'm hoping he'll do."

[captaincolly]

Australia have no test matches next summer and Boland doesn't feature for them in white ball and doesn't go to the IPL, so I'm hoping he'll be with us all season.

I'm looking forward to it already. In theory he ought to be a right handful for county batting line ups, he certainly is in the shield, and he ought to complement what we already have

Yes. Should be an excellent signing.

[captaincolly]

Brydon Carse has drawn the short straw - off to replace Topley in India.

[Durhamfootman]

except he's not an opening bowler, so yet another bit of muddled thinking from England

[sussexpob]

Australia have no test matches next summer and Boland doesn't feature for them in white ball and doesn't go to the IPL, so I'm hoping he'll be with us all season.

I'm looking forward to it already. In theory he ought to be a right handful for county batting line ups, he certainly is in the shield, and he ought to complement what we already have

Yes. Should be an excellent signing.

He's that type of bowler who you'd imagine taking wickets for fun on April/May pitches... top class signing for DCCC

[Durhamfootman]

Yes, I think so

[captaincolly]

except he's not an opening bowler, so yet another bit of muddled thinking from England

Yep. Bowls outside of the power play. The whole thing seems to be a complete shambles!

[westoelad]

except he's not an opening bowler, so yet another bit of muddled thinking from England

Yep. Bowls outside of the power play. The whole thing seems to be a complete shambles!

Not a shambles for Brydon though. One fiery spell v Middlesex at HQ some 4 years ago and lived on it ever since. Just got a 2 year central contract which probably makes him a millionaire. Nice one,Carsey.
Even nicer for Woody -he's got a 3 year one.

[Durhamfootman]

I also note that Pottsy has picked up a 2 year deal as well, whereas Stokes is holding out for a better TV deal from which to negotiate a longer term contract than the 12 month extension that he's agreed to

[Durhamfootman]

Graham Clark has signed a new 2 year deal

Mitch KIlleen has signed a one year exension. Luke (Stan) Robinson has signed a 1 year pro deal and Dan Hogg a 2 year pro deal