Durham coach wants to see improvement

JON Lewis has told his Durham players not to get bitter about the tough position they find themselves in – just better, writes STUART RAYNER.

The Riversiders lost by two wickets in the final over of their County Championship Division Two match against Northamptonshire.

It was the second game running they took into the final over but five matches into the season they are bottom of the table after four defeats and a draw.

Even if they had not been deducted 48 points for getting into financial trouble, they would still be in the wooden-spoon position.

Injuries left them with only three inexperienced seam bowlers against Northants but Lewis told his players they are not coming up to scratch.

He said: “We need to have some honest conversations about where the levels are.

“Players need to understand but you do need to be a little bit protective of them.

“They were feeling pretty bad after the game so it was not a good time to put the boot in but at some point over the next few days we need honest conversations.

“It is tough and we need to be a bit tougher and maintain our standards a little bit higher for longer periods. It is not that the standards are beyond us.

“That is a mental toughness, a physical toughness, an emotional toughness and a bit of stamina too.

“The travelling can be draining (Durham’s previous two four days games were at Hove and Sussex with a day in between) and those guys are cooked, not just physically but all-round.

“By Wednesday morning they will be back on a bus to Canterbury (for the following day’s game against Kent) and they might feel all right by then but by Thursday evening they will be goosed again.

“It is not easy but there is no point crying about it, we just need to get better at it.”

Kent have signed Pakistan spinner Yasir Shah in time to face Durham but the Riversiders have been frustrated in their attempts to beef up their bowling with a loan signing.

Lewis added: “I made three or four phone calls to different people on the weekend, all of whom were very receptive to the problem.

“However, I think the England Lions games are taking seamers away from other counties and therefore they are just looking after their own bowling resources, which is quite understandable.”