First Durham win aided by the pluck of the Irish

DURHAM’S first County Championship win of the season, seven wickets against Glamorgan, a crucial 30 not out and the possibility of playing Test cricket – it has been a good week for Barry McCarthy.

Glamorgan tested the patience and the stamina of the Ireland bowler but he came up trumps as the Riversiders finally put their points tally into the positives with a nine-wicket win at Chester-le-Street.

McCarthy saw Cameron Steel drop a catch at extra cover and the batsmen survive a number of close shaves.

Given how near Durham had come to victory in their last three matches, he could easily have lost heart.

He did voice his frustration with the Glamorgan batsmen but came out smiling in the end.

McCarthy said: “It is one of those situations you get into a lot of times over the season where if you keep your cool and hit your line and length more often than not you will get your reward. You want to get rid of the nightwatchman (Lukas Carey) straight away but he stuck around and did his team a couple of favours.

“You get a few dropped catches every now and then but we seem to be getting more than we would like these days. It is nearly a better sign if we are creating 25-plus chances a game.”

Carey got stuck in with 49 from 58 balls, whereas you would see more shots at a CND rally than from most of the rest of his team-mates. His aggression helped McCarthy.

He added: “I decided to have a few words to him which did not go so well. He took out the long handle and took a liking to my line and length.

“He sort of got me going a little bit and when we saw the back of him I wanted to take even more wickets.

“I took three wickets in my following four overs.

“I like to get involved in a contest. It is not ideal when you are being tonked around but I always felt more wickets were not too far away.”

With Paul Coughlin off the field most of the day with a tight knee, McCarthy claimed 4-65 from 25 overs. Chris Rushworth took 3-59 and Matty Potts 3-48.

Glamorgan left Durham a trickylooking 157 to win but half-centuries from Cameron Steel (51) and Stephen Cook (89 not out) in his final innings for the county saw them home comfortably.

The game’s defining point was not the 14 wickets McCarthy and Rushworth took between them but the 68 runs they added when Durham looked like squandering a good platform, only 39 ahead, when their ninth first-innings wicket fell.

McCarthy said: “The pitch was starting to wear and tear and if we had got out cheaply we would have been chasing 260, 270 with what would have probably been 50-plus overs.”

Yesterday Ireland and Afghanistan were given the right to play Test cricket.

McCarthy added: “I came off the field to a nice email from the director of cricket in Ireland.

“It is a really good job all round from all involved in Cricket Ireland.”