Durham CCC: Road to Recovery

[MateGaming]

Durham CCC: Road to Recovery

As a Hampshire supporter, I was surprised yet delighted to hear the news that my beloved county had been reprieved of relegation at the expense of poor Durham. Controversially, they were relegated to Division 2 as well as having points deductions from all formats and not being allowed to host international games.
I thought it was only right for me to take them over and try and get them back in Division 1, competing for the County Championship title in a few years time.
Big names departed the club over the off-season: Mark Stoneman and Scott Borthwick travelled south to Surrey, and wicketkeeper-batsman Phil Mustard left for Gloucestershire. The long serving Gordon Muchall finally retired after a fourteen-year career at the club. Promising youngster Asher Hart left for the south coast, and Gurman Randhawa, Calum MacLeod and Jamie Harrison all left the club with immediate effect as their contracts remained unrenewed. Youngsters Cameron Steel, George Harding and Matthew Potts were promoted from the academy, whilst South African born batsman Gareth Harte joined the club, making use of his UK Passport.

Overseas players Stephen Cook and Tom Latham will need to play a big part in our attempt to get promoted at the first time of asking.

Two signings were made in the transfer window:

• Alexei Kervezee (middle order batsman which we had a distinct lack of)
• Lasith Malinga (T20) (need big names and Malinga is a great t20 bowler)

The following points deductions were applied by the ECB:

• -48 points in the County Championship
• -2 points in the One Day Cup
• -4 points in the T20 Blast

Durham Squad for 2017 Season

Stephen Cook	Opening Batsman (Main Overseas)
Gareth Harte	Opening/Top Order Batsman
Keaton Jennings	Opening Batsman/Part Time Medium (One Day Captain)
Cameron Steel	Opening Batsman
Tom Latham	Opening Batsman (Reserve Overseas)
Jack Burnham	Middle Order Batsman
Graham Clark	Middle Order Batsman
Alexei Kervezee	Middle Order Batsman
Stuart Poynter	Wicketkeeper/Middle Order Batsman
Michael Richardson	Wicketkeeper/Middle Order Batsman
Usman Arshad	All Rounder/Lower Order Batsman/Fast Medium Bowler
Paul Collingwood	All Rounder/Middle Order/Medium Bowler (FC Captain)
Paul Coughlin	All Rounder/Lower Order/Medium Bowler (T20 Captain)
Adam Hickey	All Rounder/Lower Order Batsman/Off Spinner
Ryan Pringle	All Rounder/Lower Middle Order Batsman/Off Spinner
Ben Stokes	All Rounder/Middle Order Batsman/Fast Bowler
Liam Travaskis	All Rounder/Left Arm Spinner
Brydon Carse	Fast Bowler
Josh Coughlin	Medium Pace Bowler
George Harding	Left Arm Spinner
Gavin Main	Fast Bowler
Barry McCarthy	Fast Bowler
Graham Onions	Fast Medium Bowler
Matthew Potts	Fast Medium Bowler
Chris Rushworth	Fast Medium Bowler
James Weighell	Fast Medium Bowler
Mark Wood	Fast Bowler
Lasith Malinga	Fast Bowler (T20 only)

[MateGaming]

Game 1: Durham vs Nottinghamshire (County Championship)

Nottinghamshire won the toss and elected to bowl first.

Durham	Nottinghamshire
Stephen Cook	Steven Mullaney
Cameron Steel	Jake Libby
Keaton Jennings	Alex Hales
Alexei Kervezee	Samit Patel
Paul Collingwood (c)	Brendan Taylor
Michael Richardson (wk)	Riki Wessels
Ryan Pringle	Chris Read (c, wk)
Paul Coughlin	James Pattinson
Mark Wood	Stuart Broad
Graham Onions	Luke Fletcher
Chris Rushworth	Harry Gurney

Ben Stokes is away on IPL duty, so T20 captain Paul Coughlin will bat at 8, with a skillful pace attack of Wood, Onions and Rushworth. The batting looks fairly solid - a mix of the experience of Cook and Collingwood, and the talent of Steel and Jennings. Michael Richardson keeps wicket, preferred ahead of Stuart Poynter.
There are some big names in the Notts squad: Alex Hales, Stuart Broad, James Pattinson and Samit Patel all have places in the team.
Durham 1st Innings: 151 all out (Collingwood 58, Richardson 26, Cook 23; Broad 6-46, Fletcher 2-29)
After we had been inserted in difficult conditions, the top order needed to try and build a solid platform for the batsman coming in down the order. Unfortunately, that plan was foiled when Cameron Steel edged to Taylor in the second over. Jennings and Kervezee both fell shortly after, and after a brief partnership between Stephen Cook and captain Paul Collingwood, the overseas player fell for 23, leaving us in trouble. Michael Richardson came to the crease and set about rebuilding with Collingwood, before Luke Fletcher struck for the second time, Taylor taking a diving catch at slip. Paul Collingwood then finally fell for a battling 58, and Stuart Broad then had no problems in cleaning up the tail to dismiss us for 151.
Notts 1st Innings: 284 all out (Taylor 93, Pattinson 54*; Rushworth 4-61, Onions 2-56, Wood 2-66)
We would need a brilliant start with the ball in order to have a chance of a first innings lead, and Chris Rushworth provided, removing Notts' top three in his first spell. Patel then went on the attack, taking four fours from a Coughlin over, before the young bowler responded by trapping him LBW in his next over. Riki Wessels then fell to Rushworth for his fourth wicket. Chris Read joined Brendan Taylor and the Zimbabwean smashed Wood, Coughlin and Pringle all over the ground, before Pringle got revenge, edging Read to slip. James Pattinson proved to be a worthy partner for Taylor, and they put on over 50 together before Taylor was caught behind for 93. Pattinson batted with the tail before they were all dismissed, and the Australian overseas player finished on 54*, Rushworth the pick of the bowlers with 4-61.
Durham 2nd Innings: 185 all out (Kervezee 39, Wood 33, Jennings 23; Pattinson 4-54, Gurney 2-43)
This was a better effort than the first innings, arguably in more challenging conditions, which is at least a positive sign. Cameron Steel bagged himself a pair, a disappointing opening day for the youngster. Cook fell soon after, but Jennings and debutant Kervezee combined, before the former fell to the fired up Broad. We then lost 4-15 in five overs, before Pringle and Coughlin did their best to give us a first innings lead. Pattinson removed Pringle, but Mark Wood arrived at the crease and counterattacked, scoring an attractive 33 from 47 balls. Graham Onions also tried to go after the bowlers once Patel had dismissed Coughlin for 18. Onions eventually fell LBW to Gurney for the same score, leaving Notts 53 to win in the final innings.
Notts 2nd Innings: 53-3 (Target 53) (Mullaney 26*, Patel 21; Rushworth 2-23, Onions 1-30)
In the end, it was a fairly comfortable chase for the visitors, although they made it difficult on themselves, losing Libby and Hales early on, but Patel and Mullaney went after Onions, playing some good shots, the former falling at the last hurdle, but first innings top scorer Taylor hit the winning runs as Notts take 21 points from the game, Durham taking just three.

Table
1. Nottinghamshire (43 pts)
2. Glamorgan (28 pts)
3. Kent (27 pts)
4. Northamptonshire (22 pts)
5. Gloucestershire (22 pts)
6. Derbyshire (21 pts)
7. Leicestershire (15 pts)
8. Sussex (3 pts)
9. Worcestershire (3 pts)
10. Durham (-45 pts)

[DjF]

Best of luck in your journey with Durham, will be keeping a close eye on how you get on!

[MateGaming]

Game 2: Gloucestershire vs Durham (County Championship)

Durham won the toss and elected to bowl first.

Gloucestershire	Durham
Chris Dent	Stephen Cook
Gareth Roderick (wk)	Cameron Steel
Michael Klinger (c)	Keaton Jennings
George Hankins	Alexei Kervezee
Jack Taylor	Paul Collingwood (c)
Will Tavare	Michael Richardson (wk)
Graeme van Buuren	Ryan Pringle
Benny Howell	Paul Coughlin
Tom Smith	Mark Wood
Craig Miles	Graham Onions
David Payne	Chris Rushworth

Ben Stokes is still absent, so the team is unchanged from our seven-wicket defeat against Nottinghamshire last week.
Gloucestershire have the vastly experienced Michael Klinger leading them in this match.
Gloucestershire 1st Innings: 391 all out (Roderick 93, Miles 59; Pringle 5-82, Wood 3-99, Coughlin 2-63)
Gloucestershire started well with the bat, putting on around 80 for the first wicket, before Wood finally got the breakthrough, removing Dent for 47. The introduction of Ryan Pringle paid dividends as he removed Klinger, Hankins, Roderick and Tavare in the space of seven overs. van Buuren was then dismissed by Wood and Coughlin picked up two wickets in the final over before tea. However, in the evening session, Tom Smith and Craig Miles put together a partnership to frustrate the Durham attack. The new ball couldn't offer anything for the seamers, and it was only the reintroduction of Pringle's off spin that broke the partnership. Number 11 batsman David Payne hung around and scored a valuable 24* as Miles tried to go on the attack, but he was finally bowled by Mark Wood for 59 and the innings was over on 391, a good score on a difficult pitch.
Durham 1st Innings: 299 all out (Coughlin 62*, Jennings 58, Pringle 54; Smith 5-100, Miles 2-54)
Cameron Steel scored his first runs of the season but was soon dismissed by Payne for a single figure score. Overseas batsman Stephen Cook couldn't hang around either, bowled by van Buuren for 17. Higher middle order batsmen Jennings and Kervezee tried to build a partnership before the latter edged to slip off Tom Smith. Collingwood couldn't support Jennings for long, and they both fell in consecutive overs to leave Durham in trouble. Richardson and Pringle built a small partnership before the wicketkeeper-batsman fell for 28. T20 captain Paul Coughlin joined Pringle at the crease and together, they took Durham past the follow-on total, Pringle eventually edging behind on 54. The left arm spin of Tom Smith was enough to remove the tail as he picked up three more wickets, to dismiss Durham for 299, trailing by 92 runs after the first innings.
Gloucestershire 2nd Innings: 254-8d (Dent 79, Roderick 42; Wood 5-73, Onions 2-37, Pringle 1-60)
After a fast-scoring opening partnership between Dent and Roderick, albeit one that offered fielding chances, the Gloucestershire middle-order couldn't handle the fiery pace of Mark Wood as he picked up five wickets, including both openers and the dangerous Michael Klinger. Graham Onions then picked up two wickets as Wood took his final two, the expensive Pringle dismissing Tavare for 40, as Gloucestershire declared an over later on 254-8, setting Durham a target of 347 to win in two and a half sessions.
Durham 2nd Innings: 116 all out (Target 347) (Kervezee 27, Wood 23, Onions 20; Smith 5-40, Miles 3-18)
Durham collapsed disappointingly in the first session of the final day, leaving their lower order too much to do as they were bowled out for 116. Steel failed once again, his place in the team looking seriously jeopardised. Jennings couldn't perform any heroics as he was trapped in front by Miles for 5. Stephen Cook again couldn't contribute, a disappointing start to the season from the experienced international. Alexei Kervezee looked to take the attack to the opposition before he fell for a quickly made 27. Collingwood, Richardson, Pringle and Coughlin all fell in quick succession to leave Durham praying desperately for rain. The highest partnership of the innings then followed: 41 for the ninth wicket between Wood and Onions, before the former fell, closely followed by Rushworth as Durham were dismissed, hosts Gloucestershire winning by a huge 230 runs, Durham taking four points from the fixture.

Table
1. Nottinghamshire (54 pts)
2. Glamorgan (50 pts)
3. Gloucestershire (44 pts)
4. Kent (37 pts)
5. Derbyshire (33 pts)
6. Northamptonshire (32 pts)
7. Leicestershire (20 pts)
8. Sussex (12 pts)
9. Worcestershire (12 pts)
10. Durham (-41 pts)