• The forums will be unavailable for a few hours on Saturday 6th June, when they do return they will initially be in a degraded state with some features missing, but normal posting/reading will be possible. The main website will not be affected by these updates.
    New user registrations are currently disabled.
    Some other features of the forum are also currently disabled.

Durham v Kent (h) C.C. ( 3/4/26)

W

wayne entwhistle no9

Winger
Well I will start the thread for the opening championship match of the 2026 season with our home game against Kent.
After that fairly abysmal campaign in the championship last season we return to the 2nd tier of the championship. Personally I'm a bit more optimistic than some mainly because I think the standard is still as poor as the last time we where here and I hope that our genuine quality county cricketers can't all stink the place out as much as they did last season.
Looking specifically at the Kent game most of the team probably picks itself but there are a couple of interesting decisions to be made. Firstly will they start the season with a front line slow bowler and which of the batsmen miss out. For me Ackermann surely can't just walk back into the team although I think the coach and captain would probably like to shoe horn him in somehow.
This wouldn't be my Xl but I reckon they will go with an all seam 4 man attack plus Rhodes medium pace as the 5th bowler. I'm guessing

Lees
Mckinney
Gay
Bedingham
Rhodes
Clark
Robinson
Aldridge
Raine
Potts
Roach


Good luck to anyone going you are braver than me is think I will wait for the lancs game.
 

wayne entwhistle no9 said:
Personally I'm a bit more optimistic than some mainly because I think the standard is still as poor as the last time we where here and I hope that our genuine quality county cricketers can't all stink the place out as much as they did last season.
Click to expand...

I share your optimism and agree on the overall quality.

On paper (I know cricket isn’t played on that) we have the best batting lineup in the Division by some margin. Bowling wise, we probably aren’t far off either - but we really need to see an improvement from Potts along with a couple of players stepping up and being genuine options for the change positions.

A number of the candidates for that role have taken wickets and bowled decent tight spells in pre-season - let’s see if they can stake a claim when the proper games arrive.
 
Parkside said:
Yes,I think that will be the X1 but I'd have Minto for Aldridge. Minto bowled well at Hove and offers a different option in the seam attack
Click to expand...
Have you been sniffing glue? A balanced attack with a left arm seamer suggests you have, or that is far too sensible a suggestion for the modern day coaches and coaching
 
Parkside said:
Yes,I think that will be the X1 but I'd have Minto for Aldridge. Minto bowled well at Hove and offers a different option in the seam attack
Click to expand...
To be honest I have put Aldridge in as he batted at 4 in that 2nd innings which suggests they wanted him to get time out in the middle. Of what I watched on YouTube Connors looked the best bowler against the students.
 
Happy New Year everyone! Hope everyone has wintered well! Only 4 days to go now! Should be there for all 4 days over the Easter Weekend against a Kent side who, on paper, look a much better side than what they offered last season. Sam Northeast has returned home to Kent following spells at Hampshire & Glamorgan, the latter in which he scored 883 runs at 42.04 in a promotion winning campaign for Glam. Their 2 overseas players are both South African bowlers, Keith Dudgeon & Glenton Stuurman, the former played 1 game for Kent last season. As for Stuurman, he claimed 22 wickets at 27.40 in the recent CSA 4 Day campaign in SA. They've also brought in Matt Milnes from Yorkshire, where he got 11 wickets at 23.63. In terms of departures, Nathan Gilchrist has headed north to Warks, while Jack Leaning has headed west to Sussex. Gilchrist claimed 23 wickets at 30.04, while Leaning scored 230 runs with 9 wickets.

In the prediction thread, I've optimistically predicted Durham to finish 2nd in a promotion winning spot, hoping to bounce straight back into Division 1. I believe the standard has improved since our last endeavour here in 2023, but not strong enough to hamper our promotion hopes.

Derbyshire have boosted their chances of promotion in my opinion, with the signing of Mohammad Abbas. The Pakistani quick claimed 32 wickets at 21.46 for Notts in a title winning campaign. They've also brought in Shoaib Bashir from Somerset & Matthew Montgomery from Notts. Departures wise, David Lloyd has retired and Alex Thomson was released.

Gloucestershire claimed 201 wickets last season, 125 wickets were taken by bowlers who won't play for them this season. Most notably, Ajeet Singh Dale has been snapped up by Lancashire. He claimed 40 wickets @ 30. Zaman Akhter and Tom Price are both leaving too with both averaging above 21 with the bat and claimed 24 & 19 wickets respectively. Their 2 Aussie overseas players last season, Cameron Green & Todd Murphy haven't signed on from this season. Other departures are Dom Goodman and Josh Shaw. In terms of incomings, Gloucs have signed another 2 Aussies on for 2026, Gabe Bell and Liam Scott. Bell took 32 wickets at 27.28 for Tasmania in the recent Sheffield Shield campaign in Australia, while Scott scored 547 runs at 39.07 and took 28 wickets at 23.25 for South Australia. Other incomings include former Durham loanee Craig Miles and Will Williams from Lancs.

Lancashire are the bookies favourite alongside us for promotion this year, and have signed Mitch Perry for the first block of Championship games. Perry took 33 wickets at 22.48 and scored 227 runs with the bat in the recent Sheffield Shield. They've also brought in the impressive Ajeet Singh Dale from Gloucs, who as previously mentioned took 40 wickets @ 30. Finally Paul Coughlin has also joined Lancs from us.

Middlesex have, as of yet, announced any incoming signings for 2026, but have announced that Stephen Eskinazi has left for Leics. He scored 264 runs at 37.71. Kiwi Kane Williamson will not return following his 2 game spell last season.

Northants have brought in some decent signings for 2026, most notably, Aussie Nathan McSweeney who scored 477 runs in the Sheffield Shield. They've also recruited Harry Conway for the first block of games, who claimed 20 wickets for Northants last year at 20.75. Calvin Harrison also joins Northants having been on loan last year where he claimed 36 wickets at 29.61 while scoring 456 runs. Louis Kimber also joins from Leics.

Worcestershire have recruited 2 overseas players, Pakistani Usama Mir and South African Beyers Swanepoel. Mir clamed 30 wickets at 20.66 in Pakistan's 1st class competition, while Swanepoel claimed 19 wickets at 25.63 in the CSA 4 Day Competition. Henry Nicholls hasn't been signed on for next year after dismal batting performances, while Jacob Duffy & Khurram Shahzad have both been replaced by Mir and Swanepoel.

My prediction for 2026:

1. Lancashire
2. Durham
3. Derbyshire
4. Northants
5. Worcestershire
6. Kent
7. Middlesex
8. Gloucestershire
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top