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***The Durham CCC 2006 Season Thread***

DanielFullard

U19 Vice-Captain
Durham are back playing top-flight cricket in both formats this season and it’s a very exciting season for us down at the Riverside so I thought I’d create a thread devoted to the team where I can place all my ramblings, thoughts and feelings about the upcoming season.

The departure of Hussey is quite a blow. Part of me is happy for the chap at finally breaking into the Aussie side but there is no denying that he will be sorely missed. Gibson, Davies and Lewis should give us a bowling attack to challenge the best of batsmen in the league and with Benkenstein and Breese providing decent spin options the attack will pose a threat not to be taken lightly.

Maher, Muchall, Benkenstein, Breese and Mustard give us a solid batting combination that will miss Hussey but I suspect will be strong enough to challenge in this division.


My Prediction? I am very confident that Durham will not be relegated from the County Championship and I have high hopes to be honest. Between 5th and 7th is my honest, unbiased prediction. I know a few chaps at the ground who think we can push for top three but we will have to wait and see. What I am confident of is that we will prove all of those doubters wrong who have us pencilled in for relegation and the bookies who have us as rank outsiders for the title. To be honest this is the league I care about most but of course the 40-over league is important to me as well. I can‘t see us being relegated but then again I do predict a finish closer to the bottom than the top. A good run in the Cup as well will please me.

I will be attending all home games and have made arrangements to attend quite a few away games this season and the first trip the Riverside is tomorrow for a 2 one day matches against Scotland.

I await the new season with great anticipation
 

DanielFullard

U19 Vice-Captain
Durham v Scotland – 2 One Day Games – April 13th and 14th

The season for me starts tomorrow as Scotland cross the border for what should be an interesting and enjoyable friendly.

There are still places open in the side for the upcoming season and the next two days provides a chance for some of those fringe players to cement places in the side for the opening games of the season. I know a lot of people dismiss friendlies as inconsequential strolls but quite a few players have a lot to play for over the next two days. Some good performances may just get certain players in the team fro the opening games. Plus we might get our first look at Ottis Gibson who I hope is playing tomorrow and if he is still on the form he has been over the last few years he will be vital to us this season.

I should have mentioned Ben Harmison earlier. He was supposed to have had an amazing tour of Dubai and all word coming out of the camp, the club and even his brother Steve is saying that this could well be his year to shine and there have also been a few hints that he is ready for a call up to the England side. Of course for that he needs a good season and whilst there is so much potential in him and he has shown at times he has what it takes to be a top class player, he needs to do a lot more in the top flight and have a great season to cement these claims. The best thing is he still has time on his side so he is under little pressure this year and any extended run he gets in the team will be down to his own hard work and performances. Durham are giving him time and hopefully he will repay us. If he plays well tomorrow he could well earn his place in the starting sides.

By my predictions Ben has to compete with Pratt, Scott, Jon Lewis, Onions, Coetzer and Bridge for between 2 and 3 places left in the team


To be honest I know very little about Scotland this season. There Squad for the match is The chosen squad is Craig Wright (captain), Kasim Farid, Gavin Hamilton, Paul Hoffmann, Omer Hussain, Douglas Lockhart, Ross Lyons, Gregor Maiden, Dewald Nel, Colin Smith, Ian Stanger, Ryan Watson, Fraser Watts, Sean Weeraratna. Kasim Farid is making the step up to the first team after apparently impressing in the Under-19’s so he is one player Ill be keeping my eye on. I know Ryan Watson can be devastating at times with the ball and if he gets going Lockhart can get good scores with the bat. Watts too is a good batsmen but outside that I know little about the side.
 

DanielFullard

U19 Vice-Captain
Team for Tomorrow....

Jon Lewis
Scott
Muchall,
Gary Pratt
Breese
Mustard
Gibson (glad he is playing)
Bridge
C Thorp
M Davies
G Onions

Mick Lewis, Benkenstein and Maher will all be available for the 1st CC game.


Shame young Harmison isn't playing and I think Kyle Coetzer is injured
 
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DanielFullard

U19 Vice-Captain
Woke up today and the sun is shining bright, my sandwiches are made, the tea is in the flask and you know what.......the Cricket season final feels like its here!!!!!

See you when I get back!
 

Jungle Jumbo

International Vice-Captain
Isolator said:
So "wife" = "pet man" ?
It's a Geordie dialect. I bet you have similar things in India, but you've got little chance of understanding it. Pet = wife, and 'man' is added to the end of every sentence.
 

Scaly piscine

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Jungle Jumbo said:
It's a Geordie dialect. I bet you have similar things in India, but you've got little chance of understanding it. Pet = wife, and 'man' is added to the end of every sentence.
Trouble is I don't think he's from Noocastle or Gatesheed.
 

DanielFullard

U19 Vice-Captain
open365 said:
I can't believe you signed a 37 year old pace bowler!
The club usually pick their signings well so I have faith he will be a useful assest. Shame I didn’t get to see him bat today as the few times I have he has been a machine.
 

DanielFullard

U19 Vice-Captain
Well, I just returned from the friendly with Scotland and it was a good day of Cricket. Even though Durham won by 53 runs, both sides can take positives out of the match.

Durham batted first and notched up a very impressive 282-3, although made less impressive by the poor Scottish attack. I use the word attack lightly because there was virtually nothing there. Very few of the Scottish bowlers posed any threat at all. Dewald Nel looked about the best on the day, although the solid all rounder RR Watson but on a good effort. Captain and usual top-man Craig Wright had an inconsistent day with the ball, one over he was having a maiden the next he was giving away 16. It was that sort of day. Sean Weeraratna was terrible, just terrible and after a promising start young spinner Ross Lyons was batted off the pitch.

Durham batsmen had a solid opening reaching 50 by the end of ten overs. Things died off though and they only got 21 from the next 10 overs which given the poor bowling is a cause for concern. But after about the 25th over they attacked and simply went for it and there was little the Scots could do. There were plenty of overs in the double figures, plenty close to 20 and overall once that rough patch of the 10th to the 23rd over was passed it was a good display.

Gary Pratt notched up an unbeaten century with some very impressive batting and he looks to have really benefited from his time in India at the cricket academy. Jon Lewis and youngster, promising youngster should I say, Gary Scott opened the batting scoring 40 and 30 respectively but I’m not sure either would be in my first choice team for the limited overs game as they simply don’t score often enough. Here was a perfect example today. The drab period of 27 runs in 13 overs was largely to do with their excessive caution and failure to punish bad-bolwing. Muchall did a great job with a 61 before being run out and Mustard was going nicely on 31 as the innings came to an end. At 282 I didn’t see the Scots coming back and even though they didn’t, they sure did surprise me.

Douglas Lockhart has impressed me every time I have seen him and he hit a very strong and confident looking 102 with some nice strokeplay and plenty of boundaries. He racked up a great partnership with the equally impressive Ian Stanger (61) and they got a partnership of 143 before loosing the first wicket. At this point Scotland were well ahead of Durham but the late surge from Durham with the constant double figure overs made a Scottish win always against the odds. But after the impressive display of the openers the team collapsed and if I was a Scottish fan Id be worried about the quality of bastmen. Wicketkeeper Colin Smith got a decent 27 but that’s the only other innings worth mentioning. Durham were not bowling well at all either and with the usually solid all rounder Ryan Watson going for a duck, skilled captain Colin Wright going for a mere 9, for some reason putting himself in in the tailend, and batsmen like Fraser Watts reaching only 11 and Omar Hussain (0) and Kasim Farid (1) making no mark on the game when needed the Scots lacked bite and the promising start was wasted by the collapse of the wickets and in the end the visitors scored a respectable 229 all out from just over 49 overs.


I think Scotland might actually surprise a few people this season. Watson and Wright had off days today and I for one know they can bat well and if Gavin Hamilton can play more often and Lockhart and Stanger can play this well then they might just surprise a few teams in the Cup but in all honesty when it comes to bowling they lack strength in depth. Wright on his day can be marvellous as can Watson and they do have Hoffman and Hamilton to call upon but any time they have to rely on the likes of Weerenta and Lyons they are in trouble.

Durham bowling was nothing special. Our new boy Ottis Gibson bowled 6 overs to kick things off but never came back to compete and really didn’t make a mark. He looked awfully fast though and hopefully at the rip age of 37 he can give us a good two years. At 18 in his 6 overs I can’t complain though. Calum Thorp, who has a lot to prove had a good day taking two wickets and generally keeping runs against him low. Ill add up the figures from my scorecard later, or see if I can find them online, but his economy will be under 3. Mark Davies was very costly and simply looked off his game today and even though he got a wicket he was very costly and looked a limp version of the Davies we know. Bridge had a good day of sorts, although he Scott and Breese were at times heavily punished by the batsmen, Bridge managed to take two wickets from two balls and will have a pretty good economy for the day. Gary Scott doesn’t appear to be a bowler of first-class standard but he gave his all and even though he was costly, despite taking a wicket, there was no harm in trying him out as the game was won by that point bar a miracle from Scotland.

But the bowling man of the match for Durham must go to Graham Onions and when playing this well they can’t afford to leave him out the first team. He was the ma slowing the run rates down when he Scots were desperate to raise them and his figures for today will be impressive when I work them out.

Overall the sun was shining and the 200-300 people at the ground will have had a nice and enjoyable day of good cricket with plenty of runs and a win for the home side. I am not going to read too much into the result other than reiterate my point that other than Onions, neither side bowled that well and the Scottish attack seems very limp. Pratt I don’t think was a cert for the first team but may have played himself in with that but Muchall looked good too. It will be interesting to see what team we go with in the opening games.

And boy is it good to have Cricket back!
 

DanielFullard

U19 Vice-Captain
Of course the season for me continues tomorrow as I go back to the riverside to see the second one-day match between the two sides. Ben Harmison will hopefully get his chance tomorrow and I for one will be keenly watching him. Other than that I’m not sure how many and indeed of any other changes will be made. Scotland are very capable of beating us batting wise and as I said all it takes is Lockhart and Stanger to play like they did today and Wight and Watson to put in the good innings they are capable of and they could post a very challenging score. However, if the Durham batsmen really attacked and punished the consistently bad Scottish attack, then that 282 could have been much much higher.

As will be the norm this season, Ill be posting my post-match review and thoughts after I get home tomorrow. More sunny weather please and above all more good cricket!
 

DanielFullard

U19 Vice-Captain
Rumour has it Mick Lewis was at the game today and may actually play tomorrow......an unexpected bonus

Please, no 0-113 jokes!
 

chris.hinton

International Captain
DanielFullard said:
Rumour has it Mick Lewis was at the game today and may actually play tomorrow......an unexpected bonus

Please, no 0-113 jokes!

Nah i wont :happy: Durham will stay up this year
 

DanielFullard

U19 Vice-Captain
Well, the second game against the Scots ended in defeat for Durham. After batting first we reached 197, which the Scots beat inside 47 overs. An enjoyable days cricket nonetheless and I’m glad this was only our second string team.

Indeed the Durham team was very different to yesterday with only Davies, Mustard, Breese and Bridge playing both games. Lowe and Stoneman opened with Breese and Ben Harmison following and add to that Mustard and Bridge for out first 6 and Gary Park also got a bat. The Scotland team was it’s the strongest they have got bringing in the excellent Paul Hoffman and the ever dependable Gavin Hamilton to boost a side already with the highly skilled bowlers Wright and Watson and Stanger and Lockhart who got a 13 yesterday.

Durham got off to the worst possible start dropping to 14-2 with Stoneman going for 6 and number 3 Breese going for a duck, both taken by the excellent but sometimes costly Craig Wright. James Lowe batted well and he and Ben Harmison were going steady but Ben was gone for 31 (bowled by Maiden) and we were at an awful 54-3 and things continued to get worse as James Lowe who was very impressive went out for 36 (Caught Behind) leaving the team down to 83-4 and only a few balls later Mustard was dismissed for 15 and at 95-5 with a second string team against some top bowling today we were in trouble.

And who saved us from an even more heavy defeat? Bridge. He looked steady away and got to 60 not out and played some marvellous shots and was very troubled. *** to that a slow burning 42 from Garry Park, who looked good too, and we were left with a 197 total.

Scotland’s attack was superb today and this was their strongest line up I believe. Wright on his day is a marvel but he seems to have the odd double figure over in the early overs which sometimes ruins his figures. Watson is a great little bowler but Hoffman has our batsmen in bits and it’s a shame he didn’t get a wicket to show for his effort. Weerantha isn’t a very good bowler at all and for the second day running Lyons started well with only 7 runs from his first 4 overs but then did the same as yesterday and gave away big runs in his latter overs.

Anyway Scotland’s bowling figures……

Hoffman 10-2-37-0
Wright 10-1-32-3
Maiden 10-0-30-1
Watson 10-3-42-1
Lyons 8-1-37-0
Weerantha 2-0-17-0

Then onto the Scotland innings with the bat and after a shaky start, loosing the 102 not out star of yesterday for Lockhart for only 4 runs. But then they started to build an innings and even though the other half of that 143-partnership from yesterday, Stagner, was out for 17, leaving the Scots 45-2, soon 50-3 when Ryan Watson went for 22 after playing some pearlers including the shot of the day with a smashing drive for Six. But then Fraswer Watts and Colin Smith put on a match winning partnership and with 68 and 36 respectively took the side to 162-5. Gavin Hamilton came in got a fabulous 21 and was dispatched by Breese and he and captain Wright played excellent chasing Cricket picking up singles of most balls and simply hitting and running to get nearer that total. Nice tactical play in the end from Scotland and Fraser Watts continues to shine.

But our Bowling left a lot to be desired and whilst 198 isn’t a bad total to concede there was no bite, no real pressure and in the end it cost us. Killen (9-1-3-34-2) had a decent day and was looking frightfully fast as was the impressive Mark Turner (6-0-24-1). Ben Harmison too looked like he could prove dangerous (6-0-18-1) and Davies again didn’t look too threatening (6-0-29-1). I like the look of young Barrick who is a tidy spin bowler (6-0-23-0) and the usual spinners did okay I suppose but Im still not convinced they will be able to cut it at the top level. Breese was 8-0-29-1 and Bridge 5-2-35-1

The truth was our bowlers were not good enough and should have dispatched of the tail enders and won the game but all credit to Scotland and they deserved the win and as I said yesterday, with the likes of Hoffman, Wright, Lockhart, Stanger, Watson and Wright they will surprise a few teams this season for sure.
 
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Jamee999

Hall of Fame Member
DanielFullard said:
Anyway Scotland’s bowling figures……

Hoffman 10-2-37-0
Wright 10-1-32-3
Maiden 10-0-30-1
Watson 10-3-42-1
Lyons 8-1-37-0
Weerantha 2-0-17-0
All better than your new overseas player!
 

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