Result: Durham 2nd XI (186/6; Arshad 66*, Wood 55*) beat Scotland ‘A’ (185; English 76; Harding 3/46) by four wickets
An unbroken seventh wicket stand between Usman Arshad & Mark Wood led the Seconds from the brink of defeat to victory against Scotland ‘A’.
Scotland had been in control after decimating Durham to 59/6 in the 17th over defending 185.
Graham Clark’s 14 was the highest score of the first six wickets to fall as Ihtisham Malik took three wickets.
However, Arshad & Wood stemmed the flow of wickets & soon moved towards chasing the target at Burnopfield.
The partnership was eventually worth 127 in nearly 30 overs as they eventually cruised towards victory with four overs to spare.
George Harding was the pick of the Durham bowlers in restricting Scotland ‘A’ to less than 200 in the first innings.
Wood added a wicket in bowling seven overs with figures of 1/23 while James Weighell (1), Scott Steel (1), Usman Arshad (1) & Josh Coughlin (2) were the other wicket takers.
Result: Scotland ‘A’ (258/4; Jones 120*) beat Durham 2nd XI (130; Sole 5/51) by 128 runs
Mark Wood made his comeback from a heel injury by bowling five overs in the Seconds’ 50-over friendly defeat to Scotland ‘A’ at Burnopfield CC.
The 27-year-old missed the latter part of England’s Test series win over South Africa & the ongoing series with the West Indies through a heel injury.
He returned figures of 0/10 on his comeback as he looks to stake a claim for inclusion in next week’s Specsavers County Championship match against Kent at Emirates Riverside.
His comeback was not in a victorious cause, however, as Michael Jones hit another century against the Seconds to lead the Scots to a 128-run victory.
Jones hit three figures in a friendly at the beginning of the season before going on to turn out for Durham, Derbyshire & Leicestershire’s 2nd XIs over the course of the year.
He batted through the 50 overs & received support from Owais Shah (61) & ex-Durham man Calum MacLeod, whose 30-ball 39 contained five boundaries.
James Weighell, Usman Arshad, George Harding & Graham Clark all picked up a wicket apiece.
In reply the top five all reached double figures, with Scott Steel making 27, but nobody went on to make a telling contribution.
Tom Sole then proved the chief destroyer, taking 5/51 in the middle overs to stifle Durham’s chase.
Wood made 17 but Neil Killeen’s men never seriously threatened to chase down the target after those early wickets.
The teams will go head-to-head for a second time tomorrow.