Bat’s the way as Davies hits a superb 132
JOSEPH Davies scored an outstanding 132 as Durham Under18s progressed in the Royal London County Cup with a 20-run victory over Scotland at Morpeth.
Durham captain Mason Bell won the toss and elected to bat, the hosts making a great start as Sam Garraghan and Rhys Dittaput on 83 for the first wicket.
Ditta fell four runs shy of his half-century, being dismissed by Nikhil Koteeswaran.
Garraghan continued where he left off, sharing a second-wicket stand of 156 with Davies.
Both batsmen brought up their half centuries in the process, Garraghan from 58 balls and Davies from 52 balls, as Durham reached 200 in 28.4 overs.
Garraghan fell for 54 but Davies was in fine form as he reached three figures in 75 balls with 10 fours and five sixes.
He was eventually out for 132 from 99 balls with 13 fours and six sixes, h Koteeswaran claiming his second scalp with Durham 295-5.
Once Davies departed, Durham continued to lose wickets as they eventually closed on 346-9 from their 50 overs.
Koteeswaran (3-58) and Pranav Saravanan (2-19) were the pick of the bowlers for Scotland.
Durham were instantly on the board when Harry Lumsden had Jamie Dunk caught for 14.
Adi Hedge scored 24 with three fours but he was caught and bowled by Sebastian HughesPinan as Scotland moved to 52-2.
A fourth-wicket stand of 156 between Owen Gould and Uzair Ahmed led Scotland to 244 but still needing 103 to win.
Although the visitors enjoyed a strong fourth-wicket stand once that had been broken they continued to lose wickets very frequently.
Owen Gould brought up his 100 in 103 balls but Harry Lumsden took the key Scotland wicket for 120, who claimed 3-57 from nine overs.
Mason Bell (2-62) claimed two wickets in three balls and although McIntrye and Fraser shared an eight-wicket stand of 50 Durham edged home by 20 runs with Scotland closing their 50 overs on 326-8.
Durham next play Yorkshire at Anfield Plain tomorrow in round three of the competition.
DURHAM are running three junior holiday coaching camps for budding young cricketers aged between eight and 11.
The camps, staged at the Seat Unique Riverside, will be held on August 2-4, August 9-11 and August 23-25.
They offer a fantastic opportunity for young aspiring cricketers to practice their cricket skills, guided by Durham’s coaching team.
Participants will be able to practice specialist skills, predominantly using a soft ball and, depending on ability, batting in the nets may be included.
The camps are suitable for boys and girls with coaching from 9.30 until 3.30 each day. Booking for individual days is available.
One-to-one specialist coaching sessions are also available this summer for players aged eight or over, focusing on batting, wicketkeeping, seam bowling and spin bowling.
For more details, or to enrol on any of the courses, go to the Durham Cricket website.
INTERNET providert YOUFIBRE has become the headline sponsor of the Durham Cricket Board Junior League.
The league involves 70 clubs playing in five regionalised divisions in age groups from undernines to under-18s.
Run and administered centrally by Durham CCC, it provides a platform for junior teams to play regular cricket in a consistent structure.
DCB Junior League chairman Graeme Weeks said: “I am delighted to welcome YouFibre as sponsor of the league.
“It’s fantastic they wanted and aspired to support grassroots cricket and have done so on such a big scale through the league, which covers the entire county.”