Durham raises the Bazball flag as an arrogant approach pays off at Hove

Photo of author

By Webdesk


Durham 352 for 7 (Jones 87, Read 79, McAndrew 3-69) vs. Sussex

New coach Ryan Campbell has committed his Durham team to take a front-foot approach in the LV=Insurance County Championship and there was early evidence of their intentions against Sussex. On a quiet pitch at the 1st Central County Ground in Hove, they rattled through an exciting day five hours after being brought to bat, closing at 352 for 7 from 70 overs.

Michael Jones and Alex Lees laid the groundwork with 142 for the first wicket as play started at 1.30pm after the morning rain. And although Sussex fought back with seven wickets after tea, Durham maintained their aggressive approach, not least when, on his debut after his winter transfer from Kent, Ollie Robinson and Graham Clark hit 61 in eight overs for the fifth wicket.

How Sussex could have done with their own Ollie Robinson leading the charge. Instead, Sean Hunt and Henry Crocombe, who took a combined 33 wickets last season, shared the new ball and neither they nor the other four bowlers new captain Cheteshwar Pujara had taken on by the 22nd were able to make much headway against Lees and Jones .

Lees can realize his only way back to the England test team will be a more aggressive approach and he needed just 55 balls to power up his half-century with a pull-off Crocombe giving him a ninth boundary. Jones was a little more careful and took 90 balls for his fifty.

So it was a surprise when left-arm George Garton, in his first Championship appearance since last May, found a gap between bat and pad to bowl Lees for 79 in the 29th over. There was little rest for the Sussex attack, however, as 6ft 7in Championship debutant Ben McKinney made a good form. The 18-year-old southpaw, who captained the England Under-19s over the winter, found the line with his first three goal-scoring shots before hoisting Hunt forward six times to bring over the 200 in the 40th.

McKinney (35) was hit by Crocombe’s slower ball, which he hit halfway, and Durham lost their third wicket when David Bedingham was beaten by a fine swinger from Australian Nathan McAndrew, who was making his Sussex debut.

Jones had provided the ballast in the innings until he mistimed a pull-off from Crocombe and split a fly to Jack Carson, who ran around from midwicket, after hitting 14 fours in less than four hours.

Sussex tails were up but Robinson and Clark counterattacked with some striking blows. Clark got off target by hooking Garton for six before putting him on the roof of the pavilion two balls later. Robinson uppercut Crocombe for six in the next over before Clark snatched two more sixes from Garton in his next over.

Still finding his way back with the red ball after two injury-plagued seasons, Garton was withdrawn and it proved to be a smart move by Pujara. Offspinner Carson didn’t get much turn, but he did provide control and broke the stands with a low recoil from Robinson’s hard hit drive.

No one epitomized Durham’s approach more than Clark, who hit six sixes in his 47 before McAndrew, Sussex’s most effective sailor, came down the slipway and found enough late inswing to pin him lbw and then caught Jonathan Bushnell on the boundary to make his third party claim. wicket.

Even Brydon Carse, who has hit just ten sixes in his first-class career, pulled the strings before the end, one of ten sixes in the innings to date.



Source link

Leave a Comment

Share via
Copy link