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Durham v Worcestershire [a] C.C. 8/5/26


Raymondo said:
It’s hard to tell whether we won that game or they lost it (apart from the obvious), I’ve already said credit is due to our boys for turning it around and clearly when it was time for a performance our abundance of talent has come to the party.

The hosts were 53-0 though, 93 runs ahead and we seemed bereft of ideas. In many ways this feels like we’ve got out of jail. I’m not complaining, I hope we do it in every game for the next forty year. When the inexperienced and lopsided Worcestershire team gave us a sniff of an opening, we’ve come steaming through with the full force of our might.

On a wider point though, I hope the coaching staff have a long hard think about what went wrong in this game and why we were in the position we were before the wickets started to tumble today. All top sports teams do that of course, constantly reviewing performance and I think there is a lot to learn from those three days in Worcester. If we had been playing a decent side they’d have buried us and perhaps that’s why we were relegated 8 months or so ago.

I pointed out before the game (and many times during) that Stokes upset the balance of the side. It occurred again today, the fact he was on a pitch count was why Aldridge was thrown the ball after lunch and not Stokes, luckily for us he got the ball rolling. I’d argue also that Parkinson wouldn’t have bowled had Stokes not been on workload management. Again, luckily for us he’s bowled the spell of his life. Next, Robinson was thrown the ball when Aldridge rested, but once again Stokes would undoubtedly have been the go to option had there been no limitations to his workload. Robinson bowled admirably mind, regularly beating the bat and being unfortunate not to pick up a wicket. Stokes eventually came back on to mop up the tail, he bowled with real pace and aggression and it was clear that was what we lacked yesterday morning when bowling at the tail.

I was worried at 4-1, I felt that the pitch had been sporty throughout and in Taylor they have arguably the best seamer in the Division. I expected a bit more jeopardy, a few chances, some appeals we’d have to survive, etc. Unfortunately for Worcestershire though they’d reasoned that they probably couldn’t rely on their two youngsters, who were both very expensive in the first innings and so they threw the new ball to Waite who was economical and dangerous first time around. This time though, he strayed onto the left-handers’ pads far too often and our lads got a start. When they did have to use the youngsters, McKinney went after them and took them totally apart.

The big thing in that run chase too, was how totally and utterly demoralised the hosts were. Their commentator remarked quite early in our innings that their skipper D’Oliveira looked very downbeat and his demeanour gave the impression they already thought they’d lost. I think that when McKinney lifted Darley over long off for six from the last ball of the twelfth over they all knew the game was up.

We’re top of the league, have won 3 from 5, remain unbeaten and should go to Beckenham next week brimming with confidence. I hope Campbell puts all our eggs in the one basket, let’s get another win and stamp our authority on the Division. It’s important to me that we capitalise when the going is good. With the Blast coming next, who knows how the squad will look in terms of fitness and availability the next time we pull on the whites.

I don’t usually do team selections, but I’d like to see the following on Friday:

Lees
McKinney
Gay
Bedingham
Clark
Stokes
Robinson
Aldridge
Olivier
Raine
Potts
Parkinson

Depending what the conditions and pitch look like, omit one of the above 12 to suit.
Click to expand...
That's a really good summation from the bits I caught of the match.

Didn't want to appear negative following a wonderful victory, but after watching back the Worcestershire collapse I would agree they lost the match as much as we won it. Over half their wickets were bad shots rather than good deliveries. Aldridge first wicket was unplayable rat ball, 2xStokes wickets were excellent deliveries, and there was a great one from Parky which turned and was edged to first slip. The rest of the wickets just bad shots: two half arsed uppish drives back to the bowler, a leading edge spooned up in the air, a lazy cut straight into gulley's hands, a skied sweep shot. I'd be stotting if Durham had batted like that.

The commentators indicated they had collapsed in the previous match so there.is obviously a lack of resilience in their team.
 
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Above is my Excel Spreadsheet to track Durham’s stats. Feel free to take a look. Over time I’ll add wider DCC stats and stats from both Divisions 1 and 2 of the County Championship, T20 Blast & One Day Cup.


DURHAM CC 2026 STATS AFTER WORCS WIN (A):


Top 5 Run Scorers
David Bedingham554
Emilio Gay552
Ben McKinney 471
Alex Lees207
Kasey Aldridge174


Most Balls Faced: Emilio Gay - 794 Balls
Most Minutes at Crease: Emilio Gay - 1,076 Minutes
Highest Strike Rate (min 100 Balls Faced): Ben McKinney - 75.5
Highest Average: Emilio Gay - 92.3
Most 50-100 Scores: Ben McKinney - 2
Most 100+ Scores: David Bedingham & Emilio Gay - 3
Most 4s: Emilio Gay - 79
Most 6s: David Bedingham & Ben McKinney - 8


Top 5 Wicket Takers
Ben Raine30
Matty Potts18
Kasey Aldridge11
Callum Parkinson10
Kemar Roach9


Most Overs Bowled: Ben Raine - 181.4 Overs
Most Maidens: Ben Raine - 45 Maidens
Best Economy Rate (min 100 Balls Bowled): Callum Parkinson - 2.21
Most Dot Balls Bowled: Ben Raine - 871 Dot Balls
Most No Balls Bowled: Kemar Roach - 13 No Balls
Most Wides Bowled: Matty Potts & James Minto - 2 Wides
Most 4s Conceded: Matty Potts - 59 Fours
Most 6s Conceded: Callum Parkinson - 3 Sixes


88 Dismissals
Caught54
LBW20
Bowled13
Run Outs1
Struck0


Highest Partnership - Ben McKinney* & Alex Lees 1st Wicket Partnership v Gloucs (a) - 305


Tosses
Won2
Lost3


Points Gained - 91 Points
Runs Scored - 2,767 Runs
Average 1st Innings Score - 414 Runs
Results - 3 Wins, 2 Draws, 0 Defeats
Wicket Keeper Dismissals: Ollie Robinson - 18
Most Catches: Ollie Robinson - 18, Kasey Aldridge - 17
Extras For - 146
Extras Conceded - 232
Fastest 50: Ben McKinney - 44 Balls v Worcs 2nd Inns (a)
Fastest 100: Emilio Gay - 111 Balls v Kent 1st Inns (h)
 
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