Ben Raine

Ben Raine had his most successful season as he claimed 60 first-class wickets for the first time in his career, proving once again how valuable he is for Durham.

Six clear as the leading wicket-taker in Division Two with 60 to his name, Raine filled the void left by Chris Rushworth to lead the Durham bowling attack throughout the County Championship.

He took four wickets in six different innings and rounded the season on in style with five against his former county Leicestershire – claiming his 13^th red ball five wicket haul.

His 60th scalp was former Pakistan international Umar Amin, who missed a straight one and lost his off-stump to give Raine a new career-best for a single season for the 32-year-old.

As Durham enjoyed promotion back to Division 1, Raine ran through Leicestershire’s top order to leave them in a perilous position.

Raine dismissed the top 4 in the hour before lunch removing Rishi Patel’s off stump, before bowling Sam Evans, pinning Umar Amin and Louis Kimber LBW first ball in the same over in a remarkable spell of bowling.

His innings against Yorkshire was one which will be remembered by Durham fans for a long time, as he notched his 15th first-class fifty.

Durham required 33 on the final day of the contest to chase down their victory total of 246, while the visitors needed two wickets. Durham were composed to whittle down 31 of the required 33 as Ben Raine completed a brilliant half-century under pressure.

Under pressure, Raine played calmly and rotated the strike with Matthew Potts, frustrating the Yorkshire bowlers.

His mature and level-headed knock followed an excellent performance with the ball where Raine took three wickets in the first innings and four in the second, when he dismissed Dawid Malan and Jonny Bairstow, having trapped the in-form Adam Lyth lbw with the first ball.

Raine also enjoyed success in the short format of the game as he finished up as Durham’s leading seamer in the Vitality Blast with 15 wickets with a best of 4/30 against Birmingham Bears. His impressive T20 Blast campaign was him called up to Manchester Originals for the Hundred.