Trescothick Must Hate the Sight of Us

Marcus must be beginning to think what does he need to do to beat us.  Even a big century from him this time was not enough.  Durham once again pulled off another great escape, with his team no doubt feeling slightly robbed yet again.  This happened at the same venue last year, that time denying Somerset the Championship title.

Nick Compton must feel a little like that too.  He scored his personal best of 254 not out in this match.

Nick’s last personal best was in 2006, when he played against us for Middlesex at Lord’s.  Again a match that ended in a draw.

And so the great escape again, again with no rain!  And on Friday the 13th too!

Rack up as many big centuries as you like against us….but you need to take 20 wickets to win!

Scotty; A Winter Well Spent

Scott Borthwick spent his winter in Adelaide learning more about the dark arts of legspin.  He got to spend time with Shane Warne and Mushtaq Ahmed.  They were very complimentary about him.    So too were TMS when the Ashes show moved into town.

Now he is applying that winter work with some success.

He was instrumental in our win over Warwickshire.  A double wicket maiden is always good when you are trying to restrict a team’s second innings total.  He got 3 of the top order batsmen in a match altering spell.  Recording a personal best of 4 wickets for 25 off of thirteen overs, which saw the Bears all out with a lead of only 101.

And with Diva struggling with a thigh strain, Scott successfully stepped into the breach as opening batsman. And with 48 unbeaten runs, lead the team to victory with a final boundary.

And all that just a few days after his 21st Birthday.

Scott Borthwick, 8 pink ball wickets

In only his second first class match Scott has taken 8 wickets for Durham.  A trial match perhaps, but he might be a bit useful then?

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!