Bunny’s Back!

An emotional day in a lot of ways.  Not only was Graham Onions back on the competitive field for the first time in 14 months.  He took 5 for 53, nice, as he seems to have come back where he left off; taking plenty of wickets.

But it also saw our whole attack looking like the attack of old, the attack of Championship winning form.  Demolishing Yorkshire for 149 in 60 overs.  After us not getting any bowling points in this fixture this time last year it was just the best to see the attack back to how we know it can be.  I wish had been there.

Will Smith; Divisions and Change

Ok we are talking Changes in first class cricket here.  Coming back from the Abu Dhabi match Will, Durham’s Captain has been thinking and deciding what might be good change and what might not.  As we know not all change makes things better.

Re the County Championship, at present he is not in favour of a three conference structure, he does not beleiver it “would work that well.’’   He does however seem impressed with the pink ball.

The ECB have also been thinking about change.  They tend to think of it in a more abstract way than most mortals.  And when Mr Collier is on the record as saying ” the cost of a new-look County Championship will be the loss of some of the integrity of the two-division structure.” you realise that betterment of the sport is not at the heart of any thought processes going on at ECB towers right now.

When England Wrecks your Bowling Attack

And England manages to wreck it without even overbowling it!

Now it’s Plunkett; that’s an England squad bowling injury full house for Durham!

Following on from Mark Davies leaving the England squad with ankle problems and then having an operation on his ankle, and Graham Onions returning home from the squad with back injury; esteemed drinks boy Pudsy has now apparently joined the list.

BBC TMS feed – 0439 – Eng 490-9 (171 overs)
“ And a bit of breaking news on TMS – Liam Plunkett will return home a day early from this tour because of an injury that they want to treat immediately.”

Oh and even more joy – Bunny’s back injury is more serious than at fist thought, and Bob is not looking certain to be fit for the start of the season now either.

Do England treat their pace bowlers well?  What do they do with them?  They have not been flogging the overs out of the Durham ones in matches.    For the amount of time our bowlers have seen on the competitive field this winter this is not been a good return.   Plunkett has seen only one [non EPPs] tour match all winter!

England: keeping our Nigel [the physio] in business!

Missing that Special Ingredient

Yes a gratuitous Graham Onions inclusion.  Several Saffers were mentioning Bunny’s name. They hoped their team would emulate his performances and last out the day to save the match to snatch that top spot.  So England how about valuing him as highly?