Lewis’ warning to England hopefuls
at Emirates Riverside DURHAM coach Jon Lewis argued England wannabes over-rate Division One cricket after losing another to it yesterday.
Sunderland-born all-rounder Paul Coughlin has rejected a contract extension to join top-flight-bound Nottinghamshire.
For a coach who lost Mark Stoneman and Scott Borthwick to Surrey in the winter, it was demoralising news. The only consolation is it does not appear to have put New Zealander Tom Latham off returning for 2018.
“It’s a shame because he’s a local lad who came through the ranks and we had much ambition for him doing great things for us in years to come but he’s decided his best interests lie elsewhere,” said Lewis.
“We’ve got a decent reputation for developing good players and good players are good players because they have ambition. They want to succeed at the highest level and if they feel their ambitions are best served elsewhere, that’s hard for us to deal with.
“I don’t entirely agree with the decisions they make but when they’re making them due to ambition it’s hard to be fully critical.
“I maintain if Mark Stoneman had had a good season for Durham he would still have progressed into the England team but whenever he scored runs for us the opportunities weren’t there.
“It depends more on how well you play your cricket than where you are, as proved by Scott Borthwick and Stoneman.”
Borthwick has lost his place in the Surrey XI, while opener Stoneman has broken into England’s.
Coughlin was Durham’s Twenty20 captain this season, as Stoneman was the previous year.
Nottinghamshire are poised to win promotion to County Championship Division One, which is where the Riversiders were until the England and Wales Cricket Board relegated them over unmanageable debts. Director of cricket Mick Newell is an England selector, a conflict of interests Durham chairman Sir Ian Botham was critical of.
“If the best players want to play for England they want to play Division One so that can be a factor,” said Lewis. “The difference between Div One and Two is not to be denied but the difference between Div One and Test cricket is massive. The question is can you make the step from FirstClass to Test cricket?”
In a strong statement on Coughlin’s departure, Botham said it was time county cricket had transfer fees.
“At the moment it looks like we’d benefit because we’re getting picked off once or twice so there is a value in that when you’ve invested money and time in players to soften the blow,” said Lewis. “We hope in a year or two’s time we’re Paul Coughlin going to be doing the picking.”
Lewis dismissed rumours of a Borthwick return, but the chances of Latham coming back were “strong. I wouldn’t say we’ve got anything cemented but New Zealand finish the Test series against England around April 2 then they do have quite a considerable break at the moment, so it’s something we’re discussing.
“I don’t believe Scott has any interest in leaving Surrey and I spoke to him when I saw him at the Test match. He’s happy at Surrey so it never came up.”
It all distracted from the opening day of Durham’s final home match of 2017. They put Sussex in, watched them make 346, and were 8-1 at the close.