Durham get Short shrift from Aussie star D’Arcy

Durham County Cricket Club have expressed their disappointment that D’Arcy Short will not return to the Emirates Riverside for next summer’s Vitality T20 Blast.

The Australian international was offered a two-year deal at Emirates Riverside but has received lucrative offers from a number of other counties.

Chief executive Tim Bostock said: “We were obviously keen to bring D’Arcy back to Durham and made him a very competitive offer.

“As expected, he was very much in demand and we must weigh up the financial aspects of any deal to ensure the club’s decisions make commercial sense.”

The 29-year-old ranked fourth in runs (483) during the 2019 Blast campaign and also contributed with his left-arm chinaman, taking 13 wickets.

Director of cricket Marcus North said: “We did everything we could as a club to entice D’Arcy back to Emirates Riverside for the next two years, but unfortunately we were unable to match the offers he received across the country.

“D’Arcy is a high quality T20 player and a great guy, we would like to thank him for his contribution during the season and wish him all the best for the future.

“We are in the process of recruiting a replacement for next season’s Blast and hope to make an announcement shortly.”

*Scotland have beaten Ireland by one run in their Twenty20 World Cup qualifying warm-up match.

The Scots won the toss and chose to bat at the Tolerance Oval, Abu Dhabi, and posted 210 for eight with George Munsey notching an impressive 86 runs and Oli Hairs harvesting 39, with David Delany taking three for 35 for the Irish.

Ireland fought back with Andrew Balbirnie hitting 70 amid increasing excitement.

However, Safyaan Sharif bowled Adair Mark, who was sitting on 45, and ran out Delany on his last two deliveries for a narrow victory, with the Irish finishing on 209 for nine.

On Friday, Scotland play Singapore in Dubai while Ireland face Hong Kong in Abu Dhabi.