• The first stage of the forum upgrades has now been completed but they remain in a degraded state and are still being worked on.
    Please read this thread for more details.
    New user registrations are currently disabled.

Academy Intake For The 2024 season


They are only interested in bowlers. Look at the batters over the last 2-3 years that have been released!
Wouldn't go as far as saying they're not interested but certainly we've developed few batters over the years but in early years riverside pitches were notoriously difficult to develop batting skills. Gone totally the opposite nowadays with flat tracks so batting development should be straight forward but there's little evidence of it so far.Still think we lack a top class batting coach experienced at coping with a new ball in English conditions.
2nd XI CC game starting Monday. Let's hope McKinney,Bushnell etc can go big.
 
Last edited:
Wouldn't go as far as saying they're not interested but certainly we've developed few batters over the years but in early years riverside pitches were notoriously difficult to develop batting skills. Gone totally the opposite nowadays with flat tracks so batting development should be straight forward but there's little evidence of it so far.Still think we lack a top class batting coach experienced at coping with a new ball in English conditions.
2nd XI CC game starting Monday. Let's hope McKinney,Bushnell etc can go big.
McKinney is going out on loan shortly by all accounts to another div1 team.

Batting coaches in the Academy have been non-existent, they are all bowlers or keepers. Then with the 100, they all disappear. There were games last year in which the Academy physio was taking the u15 and the S&C coach taking the U18.
Wouldn't go as far as saying they're not interested but certainly we've developed few batters over the years but in early years riverside pitches were notoriously difficult to develop batting skills. Gone totally the opposite nowadays with flat tracks so batting development should be straight forward but there's little evidence of it so far.Still think we lack a top class batting coach experienced at coping with a new ball in English conditions.
2nd XI CC game starting Monday. Let's hope McKinney,Bushnell etc can go big.
In the last 5 years, how many top class batters have come via the Academy?

Historically, yep, but you have to go back to the likes of Rocky. An endorsement of this would be asking how many ex-Durham betters are at other counties now that are Academy products? Where are the rest? They aren’t with Durham.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
In the last 5 years, how many top class batters have come via the Academy?

Historically, yep, but you have to go back to the likes of Rocky. An endorsement of this would be asking how many ex-Durham betters are at other counties now that are Academy products? Where are the rest? They aren’t with Durham.
This, in bold was exactly my point. The pitch is so different to what it was, much more condusive to seam bowling and not good for batting. I'm sure Rocky would have had an easier time of it developing now than then.
 
This, in bold was exactly my point. The pitch is so different to what it was, much more condusive to seam bowling and not good for batting. I'm sure Rocky would have had an easier time of it developing now than then.
I agree to a certain degree, but I think putting failure as well as success down to “knowing how to play at home” isn’t the best way to go about developing young cricketers.

Go further back to when we were successful and we were producing good young batters, they still had to bat on a crap wicket and we won the CC with ease.

The Academy isn’t what is was unfortunately and the coaches have openly said it is due to a lack of finance due to spend towards the top of the club. They will struggle this year as they only have 16 and 18 year olds in there that will be sitting GCSE and A Levels at a similar time, the 90% of whom are bowlers.
 
McKinney is going out on loan shortly by all accounts to another div1 team.

Batting coaches in the Academy have been non-existent, they are all bowlers or keepers. Then with the 100, they all disappear. There were games last year in which the Academy physio was taking the u15 and the S&C coach taking the U18.

In the last 5 years, how many top class batters have come via the Academy?

Historically, yep, but you have to go back to the likes of Rocky. An endorsement of this would be asking how many ex-Durham betters are at other counties now that are Academy products? Where are the rest? They aren’t with Durham.

For the record no academy physio took any under 15 game last year. All the games were finished by the end of June and then the u16s started as they play half a season each due to GCSEs.
Rimmo and cole with poynter took all the games
 
For the record no academy physio took any under 15 game last year. All the games were finished by the end of June and then the u16s started as they play half a season each due to GCSEs.
Rimmo and cole with poynter took all the games
Incorrect. Bree took a team to Lancs and Tom, prior to him leaving, took the u18.
 
Incorrect. Bree took a team to Lancs and Tom, prior to him leaving, took the u18.
I only missed 1 u15 game all season at Scarborough cc .
Which was a friendly.
I take it just happened to be that 1 ?
I only missed 1 u15 game all season at Scarborough cc .
Which was a friendly.
I take it just happened to be that 1 ?
Nope definitely went to the Lancashire game at Morecambe , umpires were a shambles . Even popped round the corner to Tyson Furys house
Rimmo 100% was in charge
 
Last edited:
Popped along to the Riverside to sitt in the hazy sunshine.
Durham Acad 49-0 off 8 Fishwick 38no.

Work starting on putting the floorboards in the Trapdoor. (Insert own punchline)
 
Was impressed by Matty Robinson the left armer playing for Durham Academy in their comfortable win in the first game against Northumberland today Finished with 4-1-7-2.
 
Back
Top