Durham 2024 County Championship Pre-Season Pack
By The Cricket Draft & Meet Thakkar
Durham had an exceptional 2023, winning the Division 2 title at a canter. Their bowling attack was outstanding, with Potts & Raine taking 54 and 60 wickets respectively. They certainly haven’t rested on their laurels though, having made some excellent additions to the squad with Scott Boland & Callum Parkinson coming in to bolster the attack even further. Carse, Coughlin & de Leede will likely be waiting in the wings. Wow.
It wasn’t just the potency of their bowling that ensured their dominance though, their batting was also highly impressive. Lees was outstanding, with Bedingham, Robinson & Clark also having excellent seasons. With Ackermann likely to come in at number 5 after signing from Leicestershire, this will mean Clark & Raine will be providing some serious depth at 7 & 8. They really do look like they have every based covered for what could be a highly impressive return to Division 1. Just imagine if Stokes & Wood manage to squeeze in a few games as well.
2023 Season Stat Attack:
- Winners of Division 2 Title
- Won their last Division 2 game v Leicestershire by an innings and 141 runs, with Bedingham scoring 156 & Clark 119
- Durham had the Top Wicket Taker in Division 2 — Ben Raine
- Durham had the Top Run Scorer in Division 2 — Alex Lees
- Lees hit 5 hundreds & 5 fifties, whilst maintaining a SR of 73.76 — up from a SR of 46.1 in 2022
- Potts took 58 wickets @ 17.87 in 2022, before following it up with 54 wickets @ 22.22
- Won 8/9 games at home (Chester-le-Street) with 1 draw
- Ben Raine boasts an economy rate of 3.08 across the whole 2023 season, sending down 485 overs, of which 98 were maidens — 20% of his overs (every 1 in 5) were maidens
- David Bedingham & Alex Lees were tied for the most hundreds (5 each), with G Clark & O Robinson close behind with 3 each
- Ollie Robinson had 47 dismissals as a keeper, the most in Division 2, with an average of 1.807 dismissals per innings
Durham’s Squad Performance 2023
Signings and Contract News
Overseas Availability
Boland will be available for the club until the end of July. Bedingham will be there for the entirety of the season.
Early Season Fixtures
Strengths:
- Their bowling attack led by Potts & Raine was too strong for many batting orders last year, with the addition of Boland & Parkinson, Division 1 batting line-ups are in for a tough ride
- They have a very strong middle order of Borthwick, Bedingham, Ackermann, Robinson, Clark & Raine
- Lees was in exceptional form last year & will provide stability at the top of the order
Possible Work Ons:
- Spin bowling was their issue in 2023, but with Callum Parkinson coming in to complement Borthwick, this is very likely to have taken care of this issue
- Michael Jones was inconsistent through 2023 and will be up against some pretty impressive opening bowling combinations in Division 1
Predicted 2024 Starting XI for April
Alex Lees, Michael Jones, Scott Borthwick ©, David Bedingham, Colin Ackermann, Ollie Robinson (wk), Graham Clark, Ben Raine, Matt Potts, Scott Boland, Callum Parkinson/ Brydon Carse (Batting @ 8)
Player Picks: A Young Gun, Wildcard and Banker
Banker: Ben Raine (£8–9m)
Raine is the 4th highest County Championship Cricket Draft points scorer across 2022 & 2023, with 4264 points. You can always rely on him picking up wickets and he is usually the good for some steady runs down the order. The only question mark will be if Boland is likely to take some overs away from him.
Wildcard: Callum Parkinson (£7–8m)
He has been drafted in to improve the spin bowling & we feel he will do so with aplomb. A fierce competitor who will take wickets when afforded the opportunity to get the ball in hand & will likely be selected by a low % of DOCs, hence the wildcard tag.
Young Gun: Jonathan Bushnell (£4–5m)
It is unlikely he will feature at the beginning of the season, unless injuries provide some opportunities, but if he does get a go he is likely to impress. Currently performing well on their pre-season tour to Zimbabwe and will certainly be worth a look at when his chance comes along.
