192-9
Plunkett has a five-for
Knappett and Mase at the crease

193 all out

Only Noffke can be pleased with a 50.

0-2!

Woohoo, come on Kabby get them all out for less than 43 and enforce the follow on

6-3

Never ever judge a score until second side has had 20 or so overs!

Good come back, hope we can keep our foot on their throats tomorrow.

Better than most suspected today and I would suggest honours even at close of play. Might even have been better had Knappett been higher up the order.

Could be interesting if we get a couple of quick wickets in the morning. I would really love to see us win or get a good draw to lift the gloom

Agree Adjuster, we can get something up there. This will certainly give the club a much needed boost.

It would be a tremendous result not to lose at Durham. What annoys me is that yet another inside 4 days result guarenteed wicket has been prepared at the Riverside with the customary blind eye of the ECB pitch inspectors to follow ( I know 15 wickets have to fall on day 1 before they go have a look, but previous inspections have resulted in no points deductions ).
For those old enough, it takes me back to Trent bridge and the Richard Hadlee / Clive Rice era where the only way to distinguish the pitch from the rest of the square was to see where the stumps were.

Taking the positives which I see we are now subscribing to in spades, David Wheeldon has been in good limited overs nick for Staffordshire in the MCC coming in at number 3


http://www.ecb.co.uk/news/non-first-class/minor-counties/staffordshire-qualify-for-final,306356,EN.html



http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/199/199693.html

Many counties and supporters and several visiting captains have suggested that Chester-le-Street is a result wicket prepared specifically to suit Durhams seemingly endless conveyor belt of quality seamers, which if we are being cynical also happens, conveniently for an occasional test ground and home of the county champions, to be off the pitch inspectors radar.

In the 4 CC matches this season at the Riverside, 2 and almost certainly ours, so 3, will have been completed inside 3 days. In fact in the Hants game only 11.5 overs was needed to finish the game on the 3rd day and in the last rain interrupted Lancs fixture the game was completed in under 7 sessions.

In the 12 completed innings to date only one has been declared, and in the 11 days of play 2,515 runs have been scored and 115 wickets have tumbled at just 21.9 (Econ 2.91, SR 45.1). The average first innings total is just 229. There have been 3 innings by Durham over 300, who have taken just 8 batting points themselves at home (and hopefully will not be adding to that today) and none by visitors - 171 is the average first innings score by visitors. Apart from Yorkshire who scraped 2 batting points in the season opener nobody else has taken a batting point at Chester-le-Street. Everybody (so far) has taken maximum bowling points.

Of the 115 wickets to fall 67 have been those of visitors at an average of just 14.28. Visiting teams are scoring at just 2.2 rpo (compared to 3.28 for the home team) and a wicket is falling at an amazing rate of 1 every 39 deliveries. 12 wickets fell on a truncated first day vs Hants and 12 again on the second day with the last 6 falling in a hour of play on the third. 18 wickets fell on the second day vs Lancs and 14 in 2 sessions on the third day. This arguably against two of the stronger batting line-ups in the Division. 13 wickets fell yesterday and I expect a similar number to fall today, weather permitting.

Yes, yesterdays destroyer Mr. Plunkett is class - had just come back from injury and was the 2nd change - but exactly how many wickets have to fall and under what circumstances before an ECB pitch inspection is mandatory? If Taunton is a batsmans heaven is the Riverside a batsmans hell?

On a final dressing room motivational note one Durham poster was suggesting how well they had done without an overseas player in the CC this year

cough <5 kolpaks> cough.

This is one of the best cricket reports I've seen for ages, a bit like how the proper papers used to report on matches. No mention of the wicket though as per Asia's stats.

http://www.cricinfo.com/countycricket2009/content/current/story/411117.html

Must say I was disappointed with Sky Sports News coverage yesterday.

Normally i'm a big supporter of Sky and their excellent sports coverage.
One of the main benefits of being in Div 1 is their daily coverage on most
county matches on SSN, where you can see all the wickets fall.

However, most reports I caught yesterday continues to mention Durham
missing 3 players, against bottom club Worcs etc. yet I never once heard
about Worcs missing 3 batsmen. Very Poor reporting.

59-5

Right, we need to do now what we aren't the best at.
Finishin' 'em off