The Christmas period has come & gone but Durham’s players Down Under have still managed to impress in what little cricket was played over the festive period.
There was an international series win, a complete all-round performance & T20 wickets as January starts to bring games thick & fast once again.
The impressive all-round performance came from Graham Clark, who backed up his 60 against Leopold with a five-wicket haul to hand Newton & Chilwell their third Geelong Cricket Association First Grade win.
His haul of 5/60 in 21 overs made it 16 wickets in the season so far, adding to his recent good run with the bat.
On the international stage, Tom Latham kept wicket for New Zealand as whitewashed West Indies 3-0 in the One-Day International series.
The 25-year-old scored 74 runs & claimed five catches to see the Blackcaps to a comprehensive win & has also played in the current series against Pakistan with New Zealand already 2-0 up after two matches.
During their T20 series against West Indies, Latham returned to action for Canterbury & made 46 from 31 balls during their eight-run defeat to Auckland.
His impressive stats make him New Zealand’s third-highest run-scorer in both Tests & ODIs for his country over the last 12 months.
Mark Wood remained with the England squad after the England Lions’ tour concluded, travelling with the squad for the final two Tests as he prepares for the upcoming T20 & ODI series against the Aussies.
Barry McCarthy, Stuart Poynter & new Academy recruit Michael Jones are also likely to see international action in the tri-series between Ireland, Scotland & the UAE in Dubai.
Elsewhere in Australian grade cricket, Nathan Rimmington returned to action as Sandgate-Redcliffe won two & lost one of three T20 matches.
Rimmington took a wicket with the innings’ first ball against University of Queensland en route to figures of 1/17, finished with 1/26 in a high-scoring win over Gold Coast & successfully defended 20 in the last over to deny Sunshine Coast victory.
Liam Trevaskis will have his turn with the bat this weekend after taking one wicket from 16 overs against ANU as they made 257/5, while Cameron Steel made eight in a rare 50-over defeat for Claremont-Nedlands.