Posted by Tony Hutton
Zoomed in yesterday evening to a very positive Durham members' forum with the admirable Durham management team of chief executive Tim Bostock, director of cricket Marcus North, head coach James Franklin and newly returned player Scott Borthwick. The chief executive had recently attended a meeting of all county executives with a positive feeling about the coming season, despite the fact that the early season games would have to be played behind closed doors until May 17th.
However he was reasonably hopeful that Durham would be given the opportunity of staging a pilot scheme Championship match at the Riverside to 'test the water' for the re-admission of spectators on either 22nd April (against Derbyshire) or 29th April (against Warwickshire). He emphasised that as Durham had less than 4,000 members all would be guaranteed admission when the first phase commences.
The session was chaired by Martin Emmerson the BBC's Durham cricket correspondent who seemed delighted when Marcus North announced that Scott Borthwick, newly returned from a spell with Surrey, would captain the side in Championship cricket for the coming season. Borthwick was also suitably pleased both to be back in his native county and to have the opportunity of becoming captain.
Martin Emmerson had a good supply of questions from Durham members and in answer to one of them it was announced that Cameron Bancroft, the Australian test player, who had captained the side in 2019 would be returning for the coming season, but not until the beginning of May, due to an extension to the Australian domestic season into April. Right on cue the said Mr Bancroft scored a century for Western Australia yesterday! It was also revealed that a short term overseas signing would be made to cover his absence during April, but negotiations were still not quite complete.
The second overseas player will be David Bedingham, from South Africa, who played last season. It is hoped that eventually he will be able to obtain a UK passport which would then open the door for another overseas signing, as each side are allowed two overseas player for the coming season. The management team obviously have very high hopes for this player.
Another question asked if there would be a full programme of second eleven fixtures during the season. This was also confirmed and members were told the fixture list for the second eleven would be announced shortly. It was mentioned that for the early away match with Essex both squads would travel, with a second eleven match going on at the same time as the first team game. Some concern was expressed at the loss of players to The Hundred competition, with Matty Potts recently signing for the Northern Superchargers. However it was felt that the squad was good enough to give some of the younger players opportunities in the Royal London Cup which will take place at the same time as The Hundred.
While appreciating that many members were not in favour of the new competition, Tim Bostock was adamant that it would be successful and said that the £1.3 million received was a lifeline both for Durham and many of the other counties. Other questions related to the continued streaming of county games and again the answer that more resources were being put into place for a better system, with more cameras etc., was no doubt very well received. An extremely positive evening all round.
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