Franklin relishing taking on big boys
DURHAM coach James Franklin is relishing the prospect of facing off against top-tier competition when the domestic cricket season begins next month with the Bob Willis Trophy.
As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the ECB was forced to reform the 2020 schedule, scrapping the season’s County Championship programme.
The new tournament will see Franklin’s men compete in five redball matches against teams expected to be from both Division One and Two.
The two sides with the best records from regional groups after those contests will face off in a final.
Four years removed from their relegation to the second tier, the New Zealander is eager to see how Durham stack up against their rivals, particularly teams in Division One, after missing out on promotion last season.
He said: “It will be nice to have a little bit of difference on the fixture list.
“The standard between Division One and Two is null and void this year.
“Who knows, if it works well it might be something the ECB looks at in terms of the structure moving forward after this season. There will be excitement among the counties and the players to do something different with the structure of the groups and the way they are.
“It will be an exciting two months to play against opposition you might not normally play in a regular season, particularly in first-class cricket.
“It is going to be good for us to see where we are at against these bigger clubs in county cricket.
“We are optimistic we can put up a good challenge.”
Unlike in previous campaigns since their relegation to Division Two, Durham enter the season with a squad with familiarity on the field.
Paul Coughlin’s return from Nottinghamshire has strengthened their options, although Australia opener Cameron Bancroft will be absent due to the pandemic. Franklin is confident the understanding built up between the players will stand them in good stead ahead of the truncated campaign and has been impressed with their standards since their return to training.
He added: “The lack of turnover this season helps but we are no different from any other county.
“We were incredibly excited about our chances at the start of the season when we went to Zimbabwe on our pre-season tour.
“That has not diminished now despite missing four months of the season.
“The playing group did a lot of hard work through the winter not only on cricket but also on their fitness.
“I have been pleasantly surprised by the condition of the players since their return to training and also the things they have worked on over the winter regarding their cricket skills they have picked up very quickly in those few months off.
“The next point is taking that out into the middle and converting that into performances, both as a team and individuals.
“It helps from a team point of view that there has not been a lot of change. A lot of players have played a lot of games here so they know how they fit within the team dynamic and hopefully that will be helpful to us over the next two months.”
Franklin is aware his players face a huge task getting up to speed after missing almost 10 months of cricket due to the pandemic.
He believes the side which immediately finds its feet in the new conditions will have the greatest success due to the short nature of the campaign.
He said: “The one good thing is the players in England except the ones who have played abroad are going to be in the same boat.
“It is going to be a little bit of a feeling-out process and the team which manages to adjust the quickest to the match tempo, the pressure and the situations of the game will probably perform very well in this condensed season.”