Matt Salisbury

[GordonMuchallNo1Fan]

That the wicket-keeper batsman Davies from Somerset? Hardly going to help our bowling stocks is he?

Aye, McCarthy, one player you've mentioned. Shall we take a closer look?

Rushworth
Rimmington
Weighell
McCarthy (as mentioned)
Potts (still injured/not Match fit?)
Carse (playing as a batsman, still not fit)
Wood (away with England)

Coughlin - I'd like to see what he can do, but after making two/three squads and not being picked, maybe the coaches and selectors' view is that he's not quite ready? Not like he's skittling Second XI sides is it?

Main - mentioned above by others, but the times I've seen him, he looks absolute dross to be honest.

So basically, if Rushworth, Rimmington, Weighell and McCarthy play against Derbyshire this weekend, that only leaves Coughlin as a realistic and viable replacement. With three Championship games in a row coming up, it stands to reason that we need cover incase we pick up injuries. Our recent record of bowlers and their fitness means we need more backup than we currently have.

Look, we get that you can't stand Lewis, but the decision to get in a loanee at this moment is in my view absolutely necessary.

I've not suggested Davies bowled, but why not give the lad a game instead of Poynter in a dead rubber game? Reports suggest he may play tomorrow, so we'll see on that one.

Josh Coughlin seems to have bowled well this week, he must have something about him to represent England, play him or risk losing him I feel.

I'd rather we took a closer look at McCarthy for now, he's our player. Matt Dixon is one of the worst I've seen in a Durham shirt, not quite sure what we're achieving by playing him.

Thats your view with regards to loan players, my view is it's embarrassing for the club. I'm not a fan of Lewis, haven't been for some time, i was very critical of him last season as well, walk round the ground, very few have a good word to say about him.

Me personally I'd rather see us dip into the academy or a local lad from the NEPL if we are that stuck. We're not gonna win the league, we can't get relegated........... each to their own but it just doesn't appeal to me. The club is a circus at the moment and shows no signs of ending that shambles.

 

[Parkside]

No option but to get in loanees. Potts, Weighell and Carse all injured. Main is making up the numbers in the 2nds. Agree Coughlin must be knocking on the door but may be better of getting red ball experience with the 2nd rather than playing in a weakened white ball 1st team.
Unless we know how much power Lewis has or how much he is a puppet for Colly it's probably unfair to criticise. I think it's the latter.

 

[Former Player]

I believe Matt Salisbury has played Durham 2nd Team as a trialist recently. Durham offered him a Development contract which he turned down. Obviously taking him on loan to see wether he is worth a full time professional contract.

 

[brandon]

I've not suggested Davies bowled, but why not give the lad a game instead of Poynter in a dead rubber game? Reports suggest he may play tomorrow, so we'll see on that one.

Josh Coughlin seems to have bowled well this week, he must have something about him to represent England, play him or risk losing him I feel.

I'd rather we took a closer look at McCarthy for now, he's our player. Matt Dixon is one of the worst I've seen in a Durham shirt, not quite sure what we're achieving by playing him.

Thats your view with regards to loan players, my view is it's embarrassing for the club. I'm not a fan of Lewis, haven't been for some time, i was very critical of him last season as well, walk round the ground, very few have a good word to say about him.

Me personally I'd rather see us dip into the academy or a local lad from the NEPL if we are that stuck. We're not gonna win the league, we can't get relegated........... each to their own but it just doesn't appeal to me. The club is a circus at the moment and shows no signs of ending that shambles.

Like I said, better to play Dixon in a meaningless game than risk injury to one of our own contracted players - because we're so thin on the ground bowling wise we cannot afford to lose any more to injury.

Before jumping to conclusions regarding Coughlin or the other lads, see what happens when the squad is announced for Saturday. Bold statement from me - Coughlin WILL play First Class cricket for us this season. So in the long run, protecting him and allowing him red ball action in the Seconds in my view will prove valuable.

Having to get loan players in is indeed embarassing, but you can hardly blame Lewis for the injuries and/or the wafer thin squad can you? Again, that's FTECB's fault, or alternatively it's Harker's fault. If we had plenty of money, which we clearly don't, we wouldn't be in the mess we are. We can't afford to buy bowlers in, we can't pay the wages that top county bowlers want. That's why we're stuck with cast offs from other clubs.

As for the Academy/NEPL route - there really isn't anyone banging the door down asking to be snapped up. As for the 'we're not going to win the league' statement, well, maybe not, but we CAN still mathematically do it. We can also still gain promotion and until it's impossible, I would like to think the players and coaching staff are trying their utmost to achieve it. That maybe why the people making the decisions see fit to try and improve the side as best they can.

I just feel your condemnation of Lewis this time is incorrect. Or atleast very premature. Let's just wait and see what happens over the next week or so. Dixon has been shite, but nobody could possibly have foretold that when he was signed, but it is why he hasn't been offered an extension. Salisbury is therefore his replacement as we still need bowling depth. Is it completely beyond you to praise the club for atleast being proactive on this?

I believe Matt Salisbury has played Durham 2nd Team as a trialist recently. Durham offered him a Development contract which he turned down. Obviously taking him on loan to see wether he is worth a full time professional contract.

Indeed, further proof that we're absolutely skint - development contracts cost peanuts and obviously the club hoped to get the lad on the cheap.

I hope he comes in and takes a shedload of wickets and proves he's worth a pro contract.

 

[The Rat]

Like I said, better to play Dixon in a meaningless game than risk injury to one of our own contracted players - because we're so thin on the ground bowling wise we cannot afford to lose any more to injury.

Before jumping to conclusions regarding Coughlin or the other lads, see what happens when the squad is announced for Saturday. Bold statement from me - Coughlin WILL play First Class cricket for us this season. So in the long run, protecting him and allowing him red ball action in the Seconds in my view will prove valuable.

Having to get loan players in is indeed embarassing, but you can hardly blame Lewis for the injuries and/or the wafer thin squad can you? Again, that's FTECB's fault, or alternatively it's Harker's fault. If we had plenty of money, which we clearly don't, we wouldn't be in the mess we are. We can't afford to buy bowlers in, we can't pay the wages that top county bowlers want. That's why we're stuck with cast offs from other clubs.

As for the Academy/NEPL route - there really isn't anyone banging the door down asking to be snapped up. As for the 'we're not going to win the league' statement, well, maybe not, but we CAN still mathematically do it. We can also still gain promotion and until it's impossible, I would like to think the players and coaching staff are trying their utmost to achieve it. That maybe why the people making the decisions see fit to try and improve the side as best they can.

I just feel your condemnation of Lewis this time is incorrect. Or atleast very premature. Let's just wait and see what happens over the next week or so. Dixon has been shite, but nobody could possibly have foretold that when he was signed, but it is why he hasn't been offered an extension. Salisbury is therefore his replacement as we still need bowling depth. Is it completely beyond you to praise the club for atleast being proactive on this?



Indeed, further proof that we're absolutely skint - development contracts cost peanuts and obviously the club hoped to get the lad on the cheap.

I hope he comes in and takes a shedload of wickets and proves he's worth a pro contract.

I agree some of what you say, I am not particularly anti Lewis, but I don't like loans. I'd rather play someone younger or local from the NEPL, try someone, if its a failure, then so be it.

We won't achieve anything by just playing loan 2nd team bowlers, I'd rather we took this opportunity to just blood as much as possible, results wouldn't have been much different surely. Think they are wasting opportunites.

I don't believe there isn't one lad bowling somewhere in the north east that couldn't do a better job than Dixon, I just don't believe it.

 

[Parkside]

I agree some of what you say, I am not particularly anti Lewis, but I don't like loans. I'd rather play someone younger or local from the NEPL, try someone, if its a failure, then so be it.

We won't achieve anything by just playing loan 2nd team bowlers, I'd rather we took this opportunity to just blood as much as possible, results wouldn't have been much different surely. Think they are wasting opportunites.

I don't believe there isn't one lad bowling somewhere in the north east that couldn't do a better job than Dixon, I just don't believe it.

Cook and Killeen know the local league scene very well. If there was anyone out there, and they also trial locals in the 2nd team, they'd be using them.Hopefully we'll find another Rushworth amongst the discarded county cricketers.

 

[Bri]

No option but to get in loanees. Potts, Weighell and Carse all injured. Main is making up the numbers in the 2nds. Agree Coughlin must be knocking on the door but may be better of getting red ball experience with the 2nd rather than playing in a weakened white ball 1st team.
Unless we know how much power Lewis has or how much he is a puppet for Colly it's probably unfair to criticise. I think it's the latter.

From what's he's said before Colly know next to nothing about what the state of players are in the seconds/academy …. he's said he didn't know nothing about Potts for instance until he played in his debut. So I can understand if Colly is saying we need a another bowler, a good one but coaches would need to speak up on if there's someone in the seconds who could step up or not.

I wouldn't complain if before going for outside loanee they did consider if it was possible to promote up one of the younger lads - for all I know promoting someone who wasn't ready could set his development back and it can only be the coaches who make that decision.

My beef is that there may well be nothing there in the first place …. perhaps I'm expecting new good players to come along more quickly than they do, but look at the first team now and count the numbers of North East players. I want more locals that's the top and bottom of it.

 

[Carteron]

Cook and Killeen know the local league scene very well. If there was anyone out there, and they also trial locals in the 2nd team, they'd be using them.Hopefully we'll find another Rushworth amongst the discarded county cricketers.

They had Appleby from Sacriston playing some 2s games last year and when I saw him he was getting it through pretty quickly. I spoke to him a few weeks back and said he heard nothing since the back end of last season, and he has been picking up wickets early in the season in the NEPL. Mind I believe he picked up a nasty injury last weekend but still I think it shows that they dont scour the leagues as well as they could at times like this.

 

[brandon]

I think people are underestimating just how limited our resources are due to the financial penalties we were hit with.

Obviously during the glory years we had bowlers coming out of our ears, we had lads bowling in the Second Team who would easily be in 10 of the other counties' First Teams. In my view too many people have become accustomed to that and think we can just pluck out a Rushworth or Onions or Plunkett from nowhere.

Think of all the players we released, who were decent County standard bowlers - but couldn't get a game at Durham. The likes of Luke Evans, Ben Raine, etc - we'd love one of those lads now.

Unfortunately I think we're going to have to endure this hardship for a little while longer. We've had to cut our cloth accordingly and as a result, the size of our playing squad is wafer thin.

 

[Bri]

I think people are underestimating just how limited our resources are due to the financial penalties we were hit with.

Obviously during the glory years we had bowlers coming out of our ears, we had lads bowling in the Second Team who would easily be in 10 of the other counties' First Teams. In my view too many people have become accustomed to that and think we can just pluck out a Rushworth or Onions or Plunkett from nowhere.

Think of all the players we released, who were decent County standard bowlers - but couldn't get a game at Durham. The likes of Luke Evans, Ben Raine, etc - we'd love one of those lads now.

Unfortunately I think we're going to have to endure this hardship for a little while longer. We've had to cut our cloth accordingly and as a result, the size of our playing squad is wafer thin.

Absolutely right, but evidently part of that wafer isn't good enough to get a game.

Ah well. Nowt to do but to trust they know what they're doing and God knows they will have much more of a clue than me.

 

[badger55]

I think people are underestimating just how limited our resources are due to the financial penalties we were hit with.

Obviously during the glory years we had bowlers coming out of our ears, we had lads bowling in the Second Team who would easily be in 10 of the other counties' First Teams. In my view too many people have become accustomed to that and think we can just pluck out a Rushworth or Onions or Plunkett from nowhere.

Think of all the players we released, who were decent County standard bowlers - but couldn't get a game at Durham. The likes of Luke Evans, Ben Raine, etc - we'd love one of those lads now.

Unfortunately I think we're going to have to endure this hardship for a little while longer. We've had to cut our cloth accordingly and as a result, the size of our playing squad is wafer thin.

I saw a 3 day second team game in 2012 v Derbyshire and Durham's attack was the following, Steve Harmison, Liam Plunkett, Mitch Claydon, Callum Thorpe, Raul Brathwaite and Gareth Breese !!!
Oh to have that attack now for the first team !
Mark Wood at 22, could not get a game !

 

[The Red Telephone]

I saw a 3 day second team game in 2012 v Derbyshire and Durham's attack was the following, Steve Harmison, Liam Plunkett, Mitch Claydon, Callum Thorpe, Raul Brathwaite and Gareth Breese !!!
Oh to have that attack now for the first team !
Mark Wood at 22, could not get a game !

True I can remember some class 2nds line ups from the early days but it's only since last season that I've managed to get to recommence watching the reserves and tbh its a bit of a sobering experience seeing no more than 30 spectators at the Riverside....can remember canny crowds at places like Shildon,Shields,Ropery Lane etc.

How times change.

 

[Bri]

In terms of looking for loanees.

Marty points out that Colly and Richardson will be injured and McCarthy and Poynter will be away with Ireland for the Northants match.

 

[brandon]

In terms of looking for loanees.

Marty points out that Colly and Richardson will be injured and McCarthy and Poynter will be away with Ireland for the Northants match.

Do you mean the Derbyshire match marra? What's wrong with Colly? Thought he'd just been rested??

 

[Bri]

Do you mean the Derbyshire match marra? What's wrong with Colly? Thought he'd just been rested??

I do and I don't know to the 2nd q.