Durham Under 16s displayed a dominant performance to beat Scotland’s by eight wickets as George Fishwick’s unbeaten half century backed up a brilliant bowling display – making it two from two.
After skipper Callum Gaffney won the toss and elected to bowl first, Durham picked up their first scalp inside the opening 15 overs, Ali Khan skying spinner Freddie Lower to Brett Hutchinson in the deep. John Imray was next to fall, Matthew Robinson producing a great delivery to castle the opener.
William Hampson then joined in the wickets, striking in his first over as Ollie Jones edged the spinner to George Fishwick at slip to leave Scotland struggling at 64/3.
Lower then returned to pick up his second wicket, Oli Stones holing out to Gaffney in the deep.
Scotland captain Srikar Boggala was the next to fall, Hampson and Gaffney combining to have Scotland in deep trouble at 93/5 after 34.1 overs. Fergus Foley was then out after a miscommunication in the middle led to a simple run out.
Durham continued to pick up regular wickets, Hampson inducing a chop on from Keerat Singh to bring the team their seventh scalp. Oscar Kirkwood was then run out trying to attempt a quick single, but quick hands from Robinson and keeper Ross Abdy affected the chance.
Carter’s resistance came to an end on 31, Hutchinson returning to take a caught and bowled after Carter skied one into the air. Shlok Thaker was the final wicket to fall, Henry Sherwood picking up his first as Scotland finished on 124 from 44.1 overs.
After the interval the D’s wasted no time setting after the target, Gaffney and Fishwick adding 50 for the opening partnership to firmly assert themselves as favourites for the win. Gaffney departed for 29 after a top-edged sweep found its way to a fielder. Fishwick was joined by Abdy and they maintained the quick scoring rate to move closer to the victory.
Fishwick brought up his 50 showing class and composure with nine fours before Abdy fell just short of seeing the D’s home. James Minto joined Fishwick and the pair saw Durham home to secure victory in this ECB U16 County Cup encounter.