Saturday 22 August 2020

Durham v Derbyshire day 1

Durham 219-6

v Derbyshire

I only saw the last ten overs of today's play as I was returning home, so I am happy to defer to those who saw much more.

Alex Lees, a perennial thorn in our side, held us up for a good part of the day, while Ned Eckersley, who always scored heavily against us for Leicestershire, is still there at the close.

Not a bad day, with Yorkshire getting hardly any play, but could it have been better?

In the brief passage of play that I saw on arriving back home, I was impressed by the tidy glove work of Brooke Guest, who looks a very useful asset.

So over to you.. thoughts?

Normal service from me will be resumed tomorrow! 

3 comments:

  1. Tim, Chesterfield22 August 2020 at 23:18

    I saw very little of it too.

    Slightly disappointing after them being 3 down for not many but opposition players are allowed to do well.

    Hopefully we can polish them off and get on with the batting but the slow scoring today suggests it won't be easy.

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  2. It was a day, perhaps, when the expectations born of a combination of Durham's terrible batting form, the stereotype of their first day pitches, and our impressive performances to date, were unrealistic. The conditions really didn't give that much help to the bowlers, with little movement through the air and only occasional off the pitch. Durham batted with a grit and resilience that hasn't been typical of them this year, for once giving Lees some support. And much of our bowling looked one paced and lacking in variety. All of the bowlers were guilty, at one time or another, of releasing periods of pressure with poor balls that allowed Harte and Eckersley in particular to keep scorting when they otherwise looked unlikely to ever get the ball off the square.

    It wasn't helped by some ordinary fielding. Both Dal and Guest dropped chances, the latter in what was a pretty untidy performance. Apart from the drop, there were a few leg side stops he missed, and a couple of attempted run outs which he completed after dropping the ball. Perhaps first day nerves but he needs to be much better than that for T20's in particular, if that's how we intend to use him.

    With the forecast for the next few days, it's difficult to see how we get a win from this position in what might effectively be a 3 day match. But with both Yorkshire and Essex stymied by the weather, Worcestershire struggling for bowling bonus points, and Somerset managing only one batting point, a draw here might be good enough as long as we see the sort of resilient batting that we've seen so far this season.

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  3. Thanks Notoveryet. I was unaware of any issues with Brooke and will watch with interest today. He will be better than that and first day nerves are tough for any player.

    The weather doesn't look great around the country, for sure. One thing in our favour is if Durham are prepared to contrive a finish, we can go for it and again, be in control or shut up shop in batting last.

    I look forward to seeing the drama unfold...

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