Durham Match Thread 2026

[captaincolly]

Very costly drop to say the least.

[Durhamfootman]

Pottsy with two early wickets this morning including Vasconcelos.

It would be nice if we could finish this off early without the obligatory late order stands

And then there's the small matter of batting well, because we can't rely on Northants obliging us with the same sort of costly mistakes that we committed

[captaincolly]

I don't think I'll make it down this afternoon. Tempted to comment on the current partnership but don't want to jinx it.
I'd like to know our percentage of dropped chances, seem to drop an awful lot.

[Durhamfootman]

Well, N orthants were guilty of a couple too. They dropped Stokes on about 41 or something and Rhodes later on.

[Durhamfootman]

They had two men out for the short ball whenever Stokes was on strike. He top edged a pull, the ball went a long way up and the two boundary riders kind of got in each others way a bit and put him down on the rope

[Durhamfootman]

Not to be for Gentle Ben today

I waited around to watch him get his century and he got worked over instead. It was good cricket from Northants and good bowling from Conway. Stokes left his first ball after tea.... everyone went up pretending it was really close (it wasn't). Second ball was fired down leg which Stokes tried to help around the corner but missed. Third ball was also fired down leg, which the keeper (standing up) clung to.... the keeper and then the bowler leapt in the air and screamed at the umpire for caught behind (he wasn't) with the umpire unmoved. Then for the fourth ball either Stokes was unsettled by all the commotion or maybe he'd shuffled backwards towards leg stump a bit, but Conway fired a ball in gun barrel straight and knocked his middle peg back. Good work from Conway really. Not sure if they'd discussed this amongst themselves at tea, but it was effective

[Durhamfootman]

he's a big unit Harry Conway. Massive

the opposite to Vasconcelos, who must be one of the shortest cricketers around. Put me in mind of James Taylor.

[Durhamfootman]

It was a good partnership this afternoon. Between them they showed that there were no demons in the pitch, despite us gifting 3 wickets by the time we had 30 on the board. I saw McK and Bedders get out, both just nicked off to the keeper, as soft as you like.

Contrasting styles from the pair. Stokes took the bowlers on and made as much effort as he could to knock them off their lengths. Worked too. Rhodes put every shot he has away apart from the clip towards square leg for a single and the occasional cover drive for the half volley. Everything else he either left or defended. I think he was on 16 after 56 deliveries, then suddenly as quick as you like he'd doubled his score in 10 balls. He did damned well locking one end down while Stokes got ever more fluent at the other end.

Stokesy got a bit fidgety as he approached tea. You could tell he really wanted to get to his 100 before the interval. He tried a few trick shots that didn't come off and got a bit ragged, but had to settle for 95 at tea.

[Durhamfootman]

I see that Rhodes nicked off on 62, so we are now relying on the lower order to try and keep the deficit as low as possible

I can see why Sanderson and Conway have dominated the wicket taking for Northants this season. They look in a different class to the rest, although Guthrie looked tidy

[Durhamfootman]

It is, of course, entirely possible that England pull Stokes out of this game, as they did with Jordan Cox, with the 3rd test starting on Thursday.

My guess is that he'll play tomorrow, do some more bowling (assuming we avoid the follow on) and then get pulled out with us needing to bat out the day. I have no idea who we bring in, because I'm guessing Lawrence Olivier is our sub and he looks a genuine number 11 to me. Maybe Ackers comes in, if we actually get some sort of say in it, but equally we might have had to nominate his replacement before the match started.

Batted beautifully today, Stokes

[Durhamfootman]

the women are also in action today. T20 county cup 1st round

Who did we draw..... the mighty Buckinghamshire, or a tier 2 team?

No.... we got drawn away to the mightiest women's team in the land, Notts.

so that's nice. We have beaten them once, so maybe we'll do it again? (No)

[Durhamfootman]

Stokes pulled out by England a day earlier than I expected. We still replaced him with Ackers (maybe we had to) rather than Olivier. Had Stokes played today and bowled, then that would seem sensible to me, but now we are effectively a bowler down when Northants bat again, later this morning

Raine out early 331-8

[Durhamfootman]

although we do have Rhodes, of course, so presumably he'll get some overs today

[Durhamfootman]

50 for Robbo. The first of the season. Hopefully that will do him some good

Potts just gone and we haven't secured a third batting point yet, so lots for Parky to do

347-9

[captaincolly]

Stokes pulled out by England a day earlier than I expected. We still replaced him with Ackers (maybe we had to) rather than Olivier. Had Stokes played today and bowled, then that would seem sensible to me, but now we are effectively a bowler down when Northants bat again, later this morning

Raine out early 331-8

Yes, that seems to be an odd replacement.