Batting all-rounder Farhaan Behardien could make his Durham Cricket debut tonight against Derbyshire Falcons, after completing his two-week quarantine period.
Behardien who signed for the club in February 2020, has been unable to travel to England due to the covid-19 pandemic following the end of the South African domestic season and is now available for selection.
Behardien has amassed 6794 first class runs with an unbeaten 150* his highest score at first class level. Having had 14 seasons with the Momentum Multiply Titans, the right-hander, joinsed Durham on the back of a successful season in South Africa.
The remaining squad will be unchanged for the Falcons clash, as Durham go into Wednesday’s game on the back of a loss against Leicestershire Foxes and will be looking for their first victory of the season come Wednesday night.
Lead High Performance coach, James Franklin said: “I thought from a bowling of view we did a reasonable job against Leicestershire, considering the first couple of games we weren’t at the races, especially from a bowling point of view – to keep them at a score of under 180 when par here is around 190 – 200 we did a good job there.
“The bit that’s been ok in the first couple of games the batting, was disappointing. The middle 10 overs wasn’t good enough, not scoring boundaries and that impacted the run rate that we were having to chase, and it got to a point where it was difficult to get what we were required to get per over, about 14/15 with about 6 overs to go, which is a stiff ask no matter what batters you’ve got out there.
“There were probably 4 opportunities out there (to get wickets) and you’d probably like to take at least 3 of those and I think wickets are hugely critical in any game of cricket but more so t20, it can help dry up the run rate and it takes batters a couple of balls to settle in and you can wizz through a couple of overs. To spill those opportunities was very disappointing because again we pride ourselves on our fielding and intensity in the field and we were below average in that department as well.
“Again i’ll go back to the point, at half-time as a unit, we were happy at keeping them to a score that was very chase-able. The biggest disappointment that we fell 30 runs short on a ground and pitch that was playing well and trying to chase a total that was more than achievable.
“Alex has been in phenomenal touch all summer, 4 day cricket and now the opportunity to open the batting in t20 which he didn’t do last year, I can’t fault the way he’s going about it the tempo he’s playing at is very good. The law of averages in T20 cricket is you only get one good performance every 4/5 games but he’s done it 2/3 games in a row. Moving forward we need others to step up with him – to help us get us our first win not only in this competition but in all formats.”
Squad vs Derbyshire Falcons (2 September, 6:30pm)
Nathan Rimmington (Capt), David Bedingham, Graham Clark, Ben Raine, Scott Steel, Farhaan Behardien,Alex, Lees, Sean Dickson, Paul Coughlin, Liam Trevaskis, Stuart Poynter, Ned Eckersley, Matthew Potts, Mark Wood, Brydon Carse.
Match Coverage
The Club’s match centre will be in operation for the Derbyshire Falcons fixture with live scorecards, statistics & video highlights as they happen. Along with a full multi-camera stream provided through the Durham Cricket website.
There will also be regular updates on Twitter, with a match report and post-match reaction on the website following the conclusion of each day.
*A reminder this game is played behind closed doors at Emirates Riverside.