Head coach James Franklin is hopeful that Durham can use their victory over Derbyshire as a “catalyst” for the rest of their Specsavers County Championship Division Two campaign.
Durham pulled off a miraculous win on day four of their contest, taking four wickets in eight deliveries to secure a 29-run triumph. Franklin’s team had started the campaign with four straight Championship defeats, but their victory over Derbyshire at Emirates Riverside ended their slump.
The New Zealander has called on his team to redouble their efforts after getting off the mark ahead of their next clash against Northamptonshire on Monday, who were hammered by Glamorgan by an innings in their last outing.
Franklin said: “It was hard work to get the first one and the guys deserved to have their success. I was very pleased for them, they’ve been working very hard behind the scenes.
“It had been a tough start to the Championship season and it would have been a difficult team talk had we lost the game. Hopefully the Derbyshire win is a catalyst for us for the remainder of the Championship to gain confidence and momentum because we have tough matches ahead of us.
“We start from scratch on day one against Northants, who will be licking their wounds from a heavy defeat against Glamorgan. We cannot afford to rest on our laurels.
“We have to keep striving to be better. This game was far from perfect, we know that we can be a lot better so we’ve just got to keep working hard.”
Durham were made to battle for their victory over Derbyshire on the final day. Momentum swung between the teams throughout the contest before the north-east outfit made the decisive charge in the final 20 minutes to get over the line.
Franklin feels that his side deserved their triumph and that the rigours they went through to achieve the victory display the challenges of Championship cricket.
“Derbyshire certainly had their moments and we had to show resilience. On the third night it was a case and point that Alex Lees and Ned Eckersley came out and batted beautifully in a very delicate situation.
“They were able to install a little bit of momentum that we were able to take into game four. The game ebbed and flowed as no team was able to take complete dominance of the game. It’s one of the beautiful things about four-day cricket when you win you’ve done more things right than wrong, it’s always hard-fought and it’s always richly deserved.”
Durham remain bottom of Division Two ahead of their clash against Northants, sitting six points behind their upcoming opponents.