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Lamichhane claimed eight wickets in four matches at the start of tournament with an economy rate of 6.81

ESPNcricinfo staff07-Feb-2019Melbourne Stars can seal the last semi-final spot in the Big Bash with victory over Brisbane Heat on Friday and have been handed a significant boost with the return of Nepal legspinner Sandeep Lamichhane.Lamichhane claimed eight wickets in four matches at the start of tournament with an economy rate of 6.81 before departing for the Bangladesh Premier League and then international duty with Nepal.He claimed four wickets in six BPL matches for Sylhet Sixers then collected seven wickets in three ODIs against UAE and five wickets in three T20Is.Lamichhane replaces England pace bowler Liam Plunkett who took 12 wickets in eight matches although conceded 8.22 per over.With all their Australia players also available, the Stars are at what could be considered full strength for the final part of the BBL.A win in either of their last two group matches will ensure the Stars a place in the semi-finals, but if they continue to slip up as they did against Perth Scorchers it could let in either Sydney Thunder or Brisbane Heat.

The left-arm wristspinner bowled a game-changing over for Delhi Capitals at the death

ESPNcricinfo staff07-May-20243:14

‘Kuldeep and Axar out-bowled Chahal and Ashwin’

Kuldeep Yadav proved to be the difference for Delhi Capitals in a high-scoring contest against Rajasthan Royals in Delhi, his spell of 2 for 25 taking his team to No. 5 in the points table and earning him the Player-of-the-Match award.Chasing 222, RR were in with a chance at the start of the 18th over, needing 41 off 18 balls, but Kuldeep took two wickets and conceded only four runs to swing the game decisively DC’s way.”It’s very important to bowl in good length. That is the challenge when you bowl in the death overs, especially when you know they have got power-hitters coming up,” Kuldeep said after the match. “I have seen [Donovan] Ferreira, having played against him in South Africa. I knew he is a back-foot player, so I just tried to push it further up. That was my plan to him, [and] I got him first ball. Then I was just varying the pace and the length.”After successfully reviewing the not-out lbw decision against Ferreira off the first ball of the 18th, Kuldeep had R Ashwin caught with his last delivery. He had also conceded only 21 runs in his first three overs, to interrupt RR’s growing momentum in the chase.DC captain Rishabh Pant said the plan was to keep one over of Kuldeep for RR’s right-handers – Ferreira and Rovman Powell – at the death.”The thought was always there because for Rovman and Ferreira we wanted to keep that over,” Pant said. “We wanted to take that chance because with Kuldeep, we knew that these players are going to have problems. And as always, Kuldeep delivered – great to see that!”After Kuldeep left RR with a huge ask in the last two overs, Pant said DC’s fast bowlers were spot on in landing their yorkers. Rasikh Salam bowled four in the 19th over – three of them dot balls to Powell – while Mukesh Kumar delivered two in the final over.”Especially in the back end, the way fast bowlers executed the yorkers [was the turning point],” Pant said. “I think that was a positive, because the way our fast bowling has been going and the way the tournament is progressing, each and every day the bowlers are coming on the positive side, and that’s good to see.”Delhi has been a difficult venue for bowlers this season, with all four matches having first-innings totals in excess of 220. DC’s 221 against RR was the lowest of the four. “There is always pressure on you as a bowler. You try to mix your length and line,” Kuldeep said. “There is a lot of chance to pick wickets, and that’s what I did. You have to be smart enough to bowl and read the batter. It’s better to back your strengths, and just keep believing.”DC’s win on Tuesday took them to fifth place in the points table, level on 12 points with CSK in third place, SRH in fourth and LSG in sixth.

After nearly 39 years, three batters from the same team have occupied the top three places in the Test rankings

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Jun-2023Australia have a one-two-three at the top of the ICC Test rankings for batters, with Travis Head moving three places to third spot, behind Marnus Labuschagne at No. 1 and the second-placed Steven Smith. The last time three batters from the same team occupied the top three places in the Test rankings was in December 1984, when Gordon Greenidge (810), Clive Lloyd (787), and Larry Gomes (773) from West Indies were at the top.Head top-scored with a match-defining 163 against India in the World Test Championship final at The Oval. He came in at 76 for 3 on the first day and lifted Australia to 469. Smith, who also scored a hundred in the first innings, and Head put on a 285-run stand for the fourth wicket to give Australia a strong total. India eventually fell short by 209 runs as Australia clinched their maiden WTC title.ESPNcricinfo Ltd

Wicketkeeper-batter Alex Carey, who scored a valuable 48 and 66 not out down the order, gained 11 places to occupy the 36th position. India’s top-ranked batters from the current lot are Rohit Sharma at 12th and Virat Kohli at 13th, while Rishabh Pant is 10th.Among bowlers, offspinner Nathan Lyon’s five wickets in the match helped him move two places to joint-sixth, with England quick Ollie Robinson. Though Lyon bowled only four overs and picked up a wicket in the first innings, his 4 for 41 in the second innings helped bowl India out for 234. His team-mate Scott Boland moved up five places to 36th, four spots ahead of India’s Mohammed Siraj, who picked up five wickets in the final.R Ashwin, despite being left out of the XI, remains the No. 1 Test bowler. There were no changes in the top 10 of allrounder rankings where Ravindra Jadeja is on top and Ashwin second. The only other Indian in the top 10 is Axar Patel (fourth) and the two Australians in the top lot are Mitchell Starc (eighth) and Pat Cummins (10th).

England captain confirms absence of senior spinner but confident that rookie can step up

Vithushan Ehantharajah31-Jan-2024Ben Stokes has confirmed that Jack Leach will not be available for the second Test in Visakhapatnam after failing to recover from a knee injury sustained during the first Test.Leach hurt his knee fielding on the first day of the Test in Hyderabad, before exacerbating the issue on the second morning. Though restricted to short spells for the rest of the match, Leach managed to bowl 10 overs in the second innings and dismissed Shreyas Iyer as England sealed a famous 28-run win.It was hoped the issue – a deep bruise – would settle down, but constant swelling meant Leach was unable to take part in the training session on Wednesday at the ACA-VDCA cricket ground. Wearing compression tights, he was still laboured in his movements.Stokes will wait until Thursday to name his XI, with a decision to make on whether England go with an extra seamer after one final look at the pitch. On Wednesday, however, he confirmed Leach, having just returned from a lay-off due to a back stress fracture, would miss out.”He’s ruled out of the second Test,” Stokes said. “Unfortunately, the knock he took resulted in a haematoma in his leg. It’s a big shame for us, a big shame for Jack, obviously after a long time out of the game with his back.”To sustain that injury, first game back, obviously it’s frustrating. But it’s something we’re assessing every day. The medical team have taken over that, and hopefully, it’s not something that’s too serious and keeps him out for longer in the series.”Waiting in the wings is Leach’s Somerset team-mate, Shoaib Bashir. The uncapped offspinner arrived in India during the first Test after a delay in his entry visa. Now back among the group and training, Stokes urged Bashir to seize the opportunity, in what would be only his seventh first-class match.”If he was to play on this tour, then the great thing he has on his side is, what is there to lose?” Stokes said. “That is how I will be thinking about it, if he gets the chance to play: just to make sure I can give him the best experience I possibly can. Because you only play your first Test match once. If he does play, then I will be trying to make it as enjoyable and fun for him as I can.Bashir looks on from the England corner after his late arrival in India•AFP/Getty Images

“Myself, Baz [Brendon McCullum] and Popey [vice-captain Ollie Pope] will probably have a longer think about it. We looked at the wicket; I gave it a tap, and a play-around to make it look like I knew what I was doing. Bash is in the squad, we haven’t brought him here to have an experience. If we feel we want to turn to him, we will.”Having returned to London from the UAE to get his visa resolved, Bashir landed in Hyderabad at 8.25am last Sunday – day four of the first Test – before showering and heading straight to the ground. Stokes was buoyed by his enthusiasm to get back among the squad.”I mentioned to Wayne [Bentley, the England team manager] that Bash doesn’t have to stay here if he doesn’t want to. But he was like, ‘no, no, I’m staying for this.'” Bashir was rewarded with a thrilling finale, as fellow newbie spinner Tom Hartley took 7 for 62 to bowl India out for 202 in pursuit of a target of 231.Related

• India's battle is with themselves

• Miller: Bazball doubters, beware – England's truth is the only truth

• Who should replace Leach?

• McCullum floats possibility of all-spin England attack

• Ben Foakes embraces wicketkeeping's 'hardest challenge' on Indian pitches

“It was great for him to see that on his first day back in the camp and to see what Test cricket can bring out, and what it is like,” said Stokes. “He would have seen it on TV before but to be in the dressing room and see the emotion as well I think was great for him. He knows what it is like and hopefully it wants to make him do it even more.”Stokes also revealed his first exposure to Bashir came about through social media, bowling an impressive spell to Alastair Cook on his first-class debut for Somerset against Essex. Though Bashir would only take one wicket across 49 overs in the match, Stokes was already hooked, and sent it on to McCullum and managing director Rob Key.Jack Leach and Ben Stokes take a breather•Getty Images

“To be perfectly honest, Abu Dhabi was the first real live look I got at Bash,” Stokes said. “The first time I saw him was on Twitter. I think the County Championship [account] put a little clip together of him bowling against Sir Alastair.”I’m in a WhatsApp group with Keysy and Baz. I actually did forward the clip on and said, ‘have a look at this, this could be something we could work with on our India tour’ and it just progressed from there. He got selected on the Lions tour and obviously the coaches on that tour fed back everything to us.”Should Bashir make the XI, it would be an even bolder call than Hartley’s inclusion for the series opener considering the Lancashire spinner had 14 more first-class matches under his belt before receiving his maiden cap. Bashir’s overall record is a modest 10 wickets at 67 from six appearances.But Stokes, having led his third debutant spinner to a five-wicket haul, after Will Jacks and Rehan Ahmed’s hauls in Pakistan last winter, believes Bashir has the tools to achieve similar success in these conditions.”I just saw something,” he said. “The height he bowled from, it was very obvious that he put a lot of action, a lot of revolutions on the ball. It was something I looked at and thought, this could be pretty good for India. I’ve played a lot of games out here. As a batter you know what is hard to face, especially from a spin point of view.”When it came to selection, there wasn’t too much thought around him to be honest, because everyone was very, very impressed with what Bash showed. And everything we wanted in our spin group was answered by Bashir.”

Hendricks was involved with Malan for a 121-run second-wicket stand before Willey’s opening burst undid Kings chase

Associated Press19-Feb-2024Multan Sultans, who lost last year’s thrilling final against Lahore Qalandars by one run, opened their campaign with a thumping 55-run victory against allrounder-heavy Karachi Kings at the Multan Cricket Stadium.Sultans’ overseas signings Reeza Hendricks of South Africa and Englishman Dawid Malan struck half-centuries in the home team’s challenging total of 185 for 2 after Kings won the toss and elected to field.Veteran Shoaib Malik struck 53 off 35 balls and Kings captain Shan Masood struggled for his 30 off 31 balls against his former franchise as Sultans restricted their opponents to 130 for 8 in 20 overs.West Indian power-hitter Kieron Pollard (28 not out) was the other batter to reach double-figures in an otherwise lackluster performance by former champions Kings.Hendricks struck an unbeaten 79 off 54 and Malan made a resolute 52 as both set up a strong total with a 121-run second-wicket stand. Malan fell soon after completing his half-century when he holed out in the deep off Daniel Sams’ slower delivery, but Khushdil Shah provided a late flourish with a 13-ball 28 not out.Fast bowler Mohammad Ali (3-23) ran through Karachi’s lower order and David Willey (2-22) chipped in with the wickets of James Vince and Saad Baig off successive deliveries in his second over as Kings’ chase never got going against Sultans’ pace.

Moeen Ali says lack of confidence in the side has led to defending champions’ dramatic demise

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Nov-2023Jos Buttler has borne the brunt of England’s World Cup capitulation as captain, citing his own batting form as a major source of concern in their failed campaign.A 33-run defeat at the hands of Australia in Ahmedabad sealed the defending champions’ fate with no hope now of qualifying for the semi-finals after suffering their sixth defeat from seven matches at the tournament.Buttler holed out cheaply to Cameron Green off the bowling of Adam Zampa, who claimed 3 for 21 to be named Player of the Match as Australia moved within one more victory of a knockouts berth. Buttler’s dismissal compounded a torrid tournament in which he has scored 43, 20, 9, 15, 8, 10 and now 1 – a total of 106 runs at 15.14 from 113 balls.”I think it was the right shot to play, the execution obviously there was off,” Buttler said at the post-match presentation. “I want to be positive and take the game on. I felt that was a time to try and throw something back at the opposition.”But yeah, I think my own form has been the biggest concern. Coming into the tournament I felt in a great space so to have not played as well as I can and in such a pivotal role that I play for the team, my poor performance with the bat has really hurt us.”But Buttler said that hadn’t shaken his “belief”, adding at his post-match press conference: “If I stop believing in myself, I’ve got to make sure I’m the last one that does that. You guys will give up on me a lot earlier than I’ll give up on myself.”England have two more matches, against Netherlands – with whom they are now vying for a place at the 2025 Champions Trophy – and Pakistan.Their demise has been dramatic, with the thrilling 2019 home triumph in some ways still fresh in the mind because of that memorable final. However, it is now also a distant memory, given that the uncertainty with which England have played in India bears little resemblance to the sure-of-themselves attitude that has been a hallmark of England white-ball cricket for the best part of a decade.”It’s certainly a low point,” Buttler said. “I’ve had a few but yeah, definitely as a captain, to be stood in this position when you arrive in India with very high hopes is incredibly tough, incredibly disappointing and yeah, it hurts a lot.”We certainly haven’t done ourselves justice. Coming into the tournament, we fancied ourselves to have a real go at it and push whoever it was going to be all the way.”It’s incredibly tough to reach those highs, absolutely. Everyone knows how much hard work goes into that. And even when you come up short, there’s so much hard work that goes into that. So we feel like we’ve let ourselves down. We’ve let people down at home, the people who support us through thick and thin, and you wear that on your own shoulders.”Moeen Ali, whose innings of 42 along with half-centuries to Ben Stokes and Dawid Malan gave England some hope in a somewhat improved performance, pointed to a lack of confidence within the side as a key to England’s poor showing overall.”I’m disappointed as a player and we just haven’t been good enough in this tournament from the start really,” Moeen told Sky Sports. “Today showed the lack of confidence in the side. I thought we were a little bit better tonight and we had the best of conditions and we know we should have won this game, but these things do happen in cricket.”I think we’ve just probably tried to do too much and, as players in particular, we try to be really aggressive and then we try to soak up a bit of pressure, but we just couldn’t do it. Even tonight, every time we tried, we were in a position where we were, ‘okay, we’re doing all right here’, we just lost two wickets quickly and then we have to try and rebuild again and then lost two wickets again.”It’s a bit schoolboy-error but these things happen when you have no confidence as a side. And we can’t keep saying we’ve got no confidence. We’ve got to do something about it. We’ve tried. I think we’ve tried as a group of players to do that. And sometimes you get a bit internal as a person in the side and it’s never that good for the team.”It is this lack of confidence that Moeen believes has led to poor execution.”As a group of players and with the management we’ve tried to just, at times be like, ‘let’s go out and play our way,’ and sometimes when we’ve lost the game we’ve [said] ‘let’s go out and be harder, go harder’, which we’ve always tried to do, and we just haven’t had the confidence,” he said. “The lack of belief in the side… it’s something to say it but then to go out and do it. I don’t think we that we’ve done it.”Lack of runs, lack of wickets, not fielding as good as we know that we can … when you haven’t got runs as an individual, you’re a little bit embarrassed of your own performances, and you can get a little bit internal, and I think we’ve done that. In the past we’ve just, I think stuck our chest out and said ‘guys, I’m going out’ and tried to take it on, and we just haven’t done it.”

Oliver Hannon-Dalby claims five-wicket haul to give Warwickshire hope

David Hopps20-May-2019Dom Sibley is an imposing figure. Not quite Gregor Clegane, Cersei’s bodyguard in Game of Thrones, but you get the general idea. Tim Groenewald did not want to throw him to his doom, just get him out. But when he did, Somerset took a mighty step towards victory.With 209 to defend, Somerset had little margin for error, even though the ball had swung and seamed all day. Sibley had come into the match with hundreds in six successive first-class matches and was well set, with 26 from 84 balls. To add another he needed somebody else to hang around, but on a day when most batsmen had a short shelf life his presence was ominous.Four Warwickshire wickets had come easily, but there was a sense of Thou Shalt Not Pass about Sibley that did not auger well. He had been involved in a run out, too, which might have given him extra incentive to succeed, even if Will Rhodes had contributed to his own downfall by changing his mind after pushing the ball to Tom Abell in the gully; Sibley had already picked up momentum and was in no mood for a juddering change of direction.With 16 overs remaining, Somerset got the wicket they needed. Sibley pushed slightly across a full ball from Tim Groenewald, the sound of the nick rang around the County Ground as if importance of the wicket had somehow amplified it, and Craig Overton plunged low to his left to pull off a fast catch at gully. It was a very good catch on video; an even better catch in the context of the game.Overton had also played a central role in Warwickshire’s decline to 53 for four. He is very much England’s forgotten man, the last of his three Tests having come against Australia in Adelaide in December 2017, a series in which he took seven wickets at 42 and generally won a rating of “solid but unspectacular,” but he is an important cog in this Somerset side.He did not swing the ball markedly, but he swung it just enough in 12 overs of sustained menace. Robert Yates, a product of the Warwickshire academy (not the most reliable production line), is a left-handed batsman playing in his second Championship match, and he fell to a wicketkeeper’s catch. Sam Hain and Adam Hose, a former Somerset batsman, pushed forward in successive overs to be lbw.The late additions of Tim Ambrose, who dragged on an extravagant off drive at Lewis Gregory, and Henry Brookes, who fell to first-day turn from Jack Leach and was caught at slip, left Warwickshire 110 for 7 at the close of the first day, still 99 behind. Seventeen wickets in the day then, and Somerset have fallen foul of pitch inspectors before, but they have kept this surface the right side of the line.This a game between top and bottom – Somerset are already 47 points ahead of Warwickshire, who do have a game in hand – and it is being contested on the sort of surface that should bring about a result in three days, further Somerset’s ambitions of a first Championship title and allow them ample time to prepare for the Royal London Cup final against Hampshire at Lord’s on Saturday. All they then have to hope for is storms on the Solent and Hampshire arriving a little late and queasy from their sojourn on the Isle of Wight.Somerset were bowled out for 209 after an uncontested toss, and to get that they needed 47 extras and a top score of 36 for their No 9 Josh Davey, who had a bit of a punt and came off. Brooks is one of the most promising bowlers in the country. The ball that bowled George Bartlett, who was struck in the midriff after he was late on a pull, illustrated that he is picking up speed again after a stress fracture, although 20 no balls made it hard to suggest that he was finding his feet again – certainly not literally.Instead, Warwickshire’s cutting edge was provided by the spindly seamer, Oliver Hannon-Dalby, who conjured up the third five-for in first-class cricket, a career in which he has made 59 appearances in 11 seasons, initially with Yorkshire before they released him, and has won most plaudits in limited-overs cricket where he carries hidden perils.Oliver Hannon-Dalby of Warwickshire appeals successfully•Getty Images

Hannon-Dalby’s career-best 5 for 18 will delight all those who value his admirable and easy-going persistence. He began with the wicket of Marcus Trescothick, who edged him to second slip. Trescothick’s Championship scores this season (10, 5, 10, 4) sound like the instructions for a dance routine, but they have not quite got his feet moving yet. At 43, he is as old now as his Test average and there are young bucks like Tom Banton awaiting an opportunity. Treasure him while you can.On an extraordinary morning, in which Somerset reached 143 for 6 in 29 cavalier overs, Hannon-Dalby also had Tom Abell lbw to one that left him late and Lewis Gregory caught at second slip which one that curled away from an early juncture. Two tail-end wickets completed those exemplary figures, his first five-for for nine years, although it will take quite an effort for Warwickshire to turn his grand day into victory.

Showpiece at Edgbaston likely to be played several weeks after main event

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Aug-2023Edgbaston will host the Vitality Blast Finals Day on September 14 next year, a reversion to a late-season showpiece after this year’s July final, due to the impact that next summer’s T20 Men’s World Cup will have on the English season.The Blast title was won this year by Somerset, who completed their 15th win of the campaign in beating Essex in front of a capacity crowd at Edgbaston on July 15, only a fortnight after the completion of the tournament group stages.The tournament had been condensed to ensure maximum availability of overseas players, amid the competing demands of the international and T20 franchise schedule – although even that was not sufficient to prevent the high-profile absence of Surrey’s Sunil Narine from the semi-finals, after he chose to remain with LA Knight Riders in the inaugural season of Major League Cricket in the USA.Now, however, Finals Day looks set to take place several weeks after the Blast group stages and quarter-finals, with the T20 World Cup due to be staged in the Caribbean and USA in June, and the fourth season of the Hundred set to begin in late July, a week earlier than this year’s event.”The move to September has been made due to the impact next June’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup has had on our England Men’s and Women’s home international fixtures,” an ECB spokesperson said in a press release. “The full men’s and women’s domestic schedule is to be released later this year.”Despite being played outside of the height of the summer, more than 800,000 fans attended Blast fixtures across its six-week window, with the ECB reporting that the competition had enjoyed its second-highest advanced tickets sales ever (up 16% on 2022).Somerset’s victory in the final, their first since 2005, drew the tournament’s largest viewing figures in over a decade, with an average audience of 427,000, while viewership for the quarter-finals and semi-finals were up 64% and 12% respectively on 2022.

Vernon Philander claimed four wickets in the innings, and six in the match, as Sussex wrapped up a crushing innings win over Durham

Tim Wigmore at Hove24-May-2017
ScorecardVernon Philander is gathering form ahead of the South Africa Test series, and Sussex are reaping the rewards•Getty Images

Vernon Philander in county cricket has been a paradox. The gifts which have earned him huge success in Test cricket – seam movement, nip and unrelenting accuracy – appear ideally suited to English conditions. He played a crucial role in South Africa’s Test series victory in England in 2012 and, they will hope, will do the same later this summer.And yet, for all these qualities, the impression that Philander has left in county cricket has often been underwhelming: of a cricketer bowling within himself to preserve himself for sterner challenges ahead. Sussex are his fifth county; none of the previous four were particularly enamoured with him.Philander’s stint at Hove did not begin auspiciously either. He went wicketless in his opening Championship game, the home defeat to Kent, during which he sustained a groin injury that ruled him out for a month.Here, though, the imposter who has masqueraded as Philander in county cricket was replaced by the man who has snared 161 Test wickets at 22.39 apiece, a preposterous return in this age of the bat. Sussex’s maximum-points victory was sealed when Philander uprooted Graham Onions’ middle stump with a ball that had moved in from down the slope; away movement and awkward bounce had accounted for Chris Rushworth the previous ball.Philander, then, had figures of 4 for 39 in the innings and 6 for 99 in the match, including four wickets in the opposition’s top three: the sort of return demanded of a cricketer with such international pedigree, even on a wicket flatter than those ideally suited to his skills.”It’s always nice to come out and enjoy conditions, and get a bit of experience with the Duke ball again. It’s just good to be out here and get some game time, and enjoy being with the boys – there were some special performances in this game,” Philander said. “I’ve been pretty steady in my county stints. The wickets are a little bit flatter at this time of year, especially with the new toss rule. I’ve had a good run out here and hopefully I can take a few more wickets.”Before joining up with South Africa’s Test squad, Philander has three more Championship matches for Sussex. His impact could be decisive if, as he expects, he continues to improve, especially as Cricket South Africa have imposed no limits on his workload. “It’s only my first game back so I’d like to see myself getting better. It’s not a pace issue, it’s about getting through my action on a regular basis and just to bowl more overs. The more you bowl, the better you get.”On the evidence of this game, it was impossible to dispute Philander’s verdict on Sussex’s bowling: “a wonderful attack – there’s good variety and everyone knows their job.” Bowling uphill with the new ball while Philander bowled downhill, Jofra Archer continued the fine impression he made in this game with three wickets on the final day.The dismissal of Paul Coughlin, unable to get out the way of a delivery he left on length, and clattered into his elbow and then onto his off stump, encapsulated Archer’s destructive potential; so startling has his progress been that match figures of 8 for 125 and 70 off 68 balls already seem almost routine for him. Almost as impressive was his parsimony, the product of bowling a line and length as unerring as Philander’s.Chris Jordan did not take any wickets on the final day but made a sprightly return after six weeks during which he delivered a solitary over in the IPL, while David Wiese, uncomplaining in bowling at the least opportune times, snared Paul Collingwood lbw in the day’s second over, even if the delivery looked to be sliding past the leg stump.Yet one of this quartet – probably Wiese – is likely to make way for the returning Steve Magoffin for Sussex’s next game, the trip to Tunbridge Wells on Friday which shapes as critical to their chances of returning to Division One. Magoffin’s return is a palliative to the confirmation that another Sussex great, Ed Joyce, has played his last game for the club.Even after the unfortunate dismissal of Collingwood, Durham showed resilience. Ryan Pringle batted 201 balls for his unbeaten 38, an innings infused with technical and mental fortitude. And James Weighell defied a nasty blow on the toe by Archer to make his maiden first-class fifty, taking 16 off a Jordan over with fluent driving.Such resistance, however admirable, could not obscure Durham’s underlying struggles – and the sense of a county under siege. Both Onions and Weighell will not travel to Swansea, where Durham play Glamorgan on Friday, and Michael Richardson will again be absent, though he is expected to return for Durham’s following game. Barry McCarthy, returning from Ireland duty, will come into the side, probably alongside Gavin Main.”It’s been a tricky start to 2017. It’s been difficult and we haven’t fronted up as well as we would have liked. As a team we need to be better,” said head coach Jon Lewis. “Our squad is not as deep as it has been in previous years, and the injury list is enough to stretch us.”On a day when Ben Stokes and Mark Wood played for England to reaffirm Durham’s success in developing their own talent, Lewis admitted that Durham could look to the loan market, especially if a player signed could then be recruited permanently.Given Durham’s pace-bowling injuries, Middlesex’s stockpile of pace bowlers is one potential source of new talent. It is understood that Durham are interested in recruiting Harry Podmore on loan, with a view to signing him for the longer term.