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CC : Durham vs Gloucestershire


Great day's cricket on a day where we were told to expect showers all day and escaped with a brief 10 minute flurry.

As for the cricket we did well to pick up the remaining 4 wickets in the first half hour and then, having gifted them a couple of cheap wickets Lees and Clark took over and normal service for this season was resumed.

Lees is on a great run at the moment , let's hope we don't lose him to England.:lol: and a mention to Carse and Pretorius at the end who hammered their flimsy attack.

Let's get that 5th batting point in the morning and fingers crossed for a second CC century of the season for Carse and then let's set about them.
 
Just got home, it’s remarkable how many Lou Reed’s we’ve had already this season. What’s more, I’m really running out of superlatives to describe our batting performances.

Outstanding to remove their last four for not many in rapid time, then to rack up 433 in less than a days play was insane. Of course it looked a long way off when we lost Jones to a shooter and two batsmen to ridiculous shots in the build up to lunch, but at 109-4 the ball and pitch (aside from the Jones dismissal) had done absolutely nothing whatsoever to give us any cause for concern. I was still confident we’d get somewhere near parity at the very least and then when Lees and Clark got going it looked like we might bat all day.

Disappointed neither could get their milestones of 200 and 100 respectively, but by then the damage was done.

The way Carse and Pretorius teed off after that was brutal.

Quirky occurrence with them taking the new ball - two wickets fell in two balls, to go along with the two wickets in three balls that Raine took when we took our new ball earlier this morning. Perhaps a sign of how important the Kookaburra is when it is brand new, whilst also highlighting that after the initial 10 or so overs it does absolutely f*ckall to assist the bowlers for the rest of it’s life?

First target tomorrow has to be to get to 450, but Carse and Potts are more than capable of getting us up towards 500. Forecast for tomorrow is for plenty of rain, but considering I thought we’d lose a fair chunk of today and we didn’t actually lose any overs, who knows. Thursday’s forecast looks better in any case so hopefully there’s still enough time left in the game to force the win. The speed with which we scored our runs means we’re miles ahead of the game.

Final note to say I genuinely felt sorry for the visiting bowlers and fielders, they’ve taken an absolute pasting which further exposes their own batting failings. Whilst we had a couple of early wickets given away, they will feel they threw atleast five of their own wickets away. On top of all that, I thought their tactics were very poor throughout, they bowled a bit of short ball theory but I never felt like they fully committed to it which was odd considering the two gifts they received from that tactic earlier on. It also seemed strange that at no point did they really try to slow the scoring rate down in the hope of inducing a false shot. Clark was dismissed chipping one to short mid-wicket, but there was no obvious leg-side ploy (or outside of off stump ploy) that was attempted for any period of time. A few methods that they could’ve gone harder at for a few overs in a sustained attempt at trying to change the narrative never materialised.
 
Wanted to mention too, when Lees was dismissed, what was Goodman doing?? At the time I didn’t think much of it, but having just seen it back on replay, he runs from mid off, goes massively out of his way to run right across Lees almost running into him and then veers back towards the wicket and the rest of his teammates.

At first I thought was he going to shake his hand on the innings, but he didn’t. I’ve got no idea if anything was said, but it looked wholly unnecessary.

Not suggesting foul play, just seemed very strange.
 
Wanted to mention too, when Lees was dismissed, what was Goodman doing?? At the time I didn’t think much of it, but having just seen it back on replay, he runs from mid off, goes massively out of his way to run right across Lees almost running into him and then veers back towards the wicket and the rest of his teammates.

At first I thought was he going to shake his hand on the innings, but he didn’t. I’ve got no idea if anything was said, but it looked wholly unnecessary.

Not suggesting foul play, just seemed very strange.
You watch the streams right?

What was the crack with Clarks dismissal as everyone celebrated but Clark didn't move for a while before belated being given the finger (ooer) and he didn't seem happy despite it seemingly being a loud nick behind
 
You watch the streams right?

What was the crack with Clarks dismissal as everyone celebrated but Clark didn't move for a while before belated being given the finger (ooer) and he didn't seem happy despite it seemingly being a loud nick behind
Do you not mean Raine? Perhaps we were too busy struggling at the time naming ex SAFC forwards whose name begins with C .......erm... like Brian Clough.:lol::oops:
 
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You watch the streams right?

What was the crack with Clarks dismissal as everyone celebrated but Clark didn't move for a while before belated being given the finger (ooer) and he didn't seem happy despite it seemingly being a loud nick behind
think he wasn't sure if it carried? Umpire seemed to be checking with square leg umpire, so assume thats what it was
 
another good day for us. I thought we did pretty well to limit Gloucs on day 1, because the kookaburra was as flat as a fart. I was a bit dismayed when we were asked to bowl and Pottsy spent his first 3 overs bowling 'leavers' before properly getting going. With the kookaburra, bowlers have to be absolutely on it from ball one and we weren't really. Despite that we kept probing away and I counted at least 3 occasions in the morning session where Gloucs nicked off only to see the ball fly through/past/over the cordon for four runs and I rather suspect we dropped a couple too, albeit tough ones..... one at leg slip, I think.

I wasn't there yesterday but we seemed to really motor at times when batting. I think Carse and Pretorius were going along at 7 or 8 an over against the new ball, despite the first two deliveries accounting for Lees and Raine. We raced to a 100 run lead after looking in danger of throwing a great position away. It was also good to see Carse running freely when fielding. First time I've really noticed how quick he is when running around. We have to think of him as a genuine all rounder now, don't we?

Brilliant from Lees, so I'm glad it came after the test squad for the last 2 tests was announced. It feels as though Clark has missed out on a few hundred's now, but he's become a very reliable number 6. An excellent pick for Campbell to bring him in from the cold (where the previous regime sent him)

I think our attack for this match looks as strong as at any point of the season, so if we can get a 150 lead today I can see us running through Gloucs, kookaburra or not. Hopefully the rain won't interfere too much, but even if it did, I think a max point draw will do our chances of promotion no harm at all.
 
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I wasn't there yesterday but we seemed to really motor at times when batting. I think Carse and Pretorius were going along at 7 or 8 an over against the new ball, despite the first two deliveries accounting for Lees and Raine. We raced to a 100 run lead after looking in danger of throwing a great position away. It was also good to see Carse running freely when fielding. First time I've really noticed how quick he is when running around. We have to think of him as a genuine all rounder now, don't we?
I read somewhere that we've only ever beaten Gloucs once at home in the CC and that was way back in 1994 at Gateshead Fell. It seemed at times that Carse and Pretorious were some sort of Wayne Larkins tribute act ie simply dealing in boundaries. Larkins scored 158 no in that win with next highest score being Extras with 31. Said on here before that that was the best Durham century I've seen and also the coldest I've ever been.🥶
Looking like we may get some excellent bowling conditions this morning
Going to be a frustrating one today I think.
Here in CLS in the last hour we've had rain then sun then a shower then sun and now the black clouds are massing again.:(
 
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You watch the streams right?

What was the crack with Clarks dismissal as everyone celebrated but Clark didn't move for a while before belated being given the finger (ooer) and he didn't seem happy despite it seemingly being a loud nick behind

Do you mean Raine? Think he was questioning whether it carried - which of course he’s entitled to do.

I was at the ground yesterday, but watched the wickets back last night when I got in.
Looking like we may get some excellent bowling conditions this morning

Shame we’re batting ;).
 
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