Lewis is bowled over by new boy’s efforts
COACH Jon Lewis has nothing but praise for Matthew Potts after his County Championship debut at Kent – but it might not be enough to keep the Sunderland all-rounder in the Durham team today.
Match figures of 1-103 did not look very impressive but the fact the 18-year-old was trusted with the final over as, for the third game running, a Durham County Championship match went to the last delivery spoke volumes.
However, the Riversiders know only too well the importance of managing their young bowlers, even if often recently they have not been able to get it quite right.
Lewis said: “The numbers don’t really do Pottsy justice.
“For a guy on debut his workload was high and he kept up his pace for all four days.
“He was bang on the mark and hit his areas well.
“At the start of the season he is probably one I would having been hoping might come through but I would not have expected him to bowl as well as he did in his first game.
“At one stage he looked like he would go the whole game without taking a wicket, which would have been really unfair on him.
“He can build on that performance now.
“It is quite nice we have had a bit of a quieter week in the build-up to this game so it gives us the opportunity of playing him again.
“Matthew is in the squad to face Glamorgan but to be honest I think it is unlikely we will ask him to play back-to-back games at this stage.”
Potts, who made a duck in his first innings and 14 not out in his second, sent down 270 deliveries at Canterbury but had to be content with the final wicket of the match, Matt Coles,’ as the hosts’ final-wicket pair clung on for a draw.
Fellow all-rounder Paul Coughlin was rested at Kent having bowled 189.3 overs in all competitions this season but is ready to return. Coughlin has a history of back trouble and Usman Arshad, James Weighell, Gavin Main and Brydon Carse continue to be troubled by injury, all four expected to miss out for the four-day game against the Welsh side.
With just 15 professionals on full contracts and the previously-reliable Graham Onions and Chris Rushworth’s backs creaking at times this season too, the Riversiders are wise to play it cautiously as Potts grows into his body.
Durham play 12 days of Couinty Championship cricket in the next 18, followed the next day by the start of their Twenty20 campaign.
The middle of the three Championship matches, at home to Worcestershire, will be the first day-night first-class game played at the Riverside using a pink ball.
It has made preparations trickier but, 43 points adrift at the bottom of Division Two and without a fourday win to their name this season, Durham cannot afford to pick and choose their matches.
Lewis added: “We have used the pink ball in the past a bit (both in second-team cricket and in the annual champions’ games against the MCC in Abu Dhabi) but they have changed it now to have a black seam instead of a white one and we have not used this one a lot yet in practice.
“We had a practice day recently where we were using three different coloured balls – red, pink and white – but we have four games coming up back-to-back using each of them.
“We need to make the most of every game which comes along at the moment.”
Keaton Jennings captains England Lions v South Africa A later in the week so Cameron Steel opens alongside Stephen Cook, playing his last game as Durham’s overseas player before handing over to New Zealander Tom Latham.
Jack Burnham has recovered from a broken thumb.