Ben Stokes nears return as Durham continue unbeaten start against Essex

National World - LocalTV

Durham played out a draw at home to Essex in Division One of the County Championship, with all-rounder Ben Stokes seen preparing for his return to action during lunch on the final day. Daniel Wales reports from the Riverside.

Transcript

00:00At a cloudy riverside ground in Chester-le-Street, Durham and Essex played out a draw in Division

00:071 of the County Championship. An even contest on Day 1, followed by Essex having the better

00:13of the second day before rain washed out Day 3, saw the prospect of a winner on Day 4 quite

00:19unlikely. Despite this, Durham remained competitive and batted out the draw on the final day,

00:25having bowled Essex out for 488. The draw leaves Durham 5th and right in the middle

00:32of the Division 1 table on 50 points, with opponents Essex joined first alongside Surrey

00:39on 71 points after the opening four games of the Championship in 2024.

00:48Lunch on Day 4 saw Durham all-rounder and England Test captain Ben Stokes practising

00:54his bowling in preparation for a return to action with his county this spring, before

01:00an important summer with the Three Lions on home soil. Having not bowled at all against

01:05India over the winter, this will be a welcome sign for both Durham and for England.

01:13Following the conclusion of the match, Durham head coach Ryan Campbell gave his summary

01:19of all four days against Essex.

01:22Probably a little bit disappointing to be honest. I thought on Day 1 we batted with

01:28great intent and we set the tone of how we wanted to go about it. But then, you know,

01:33hats off to Essex, they batted very well on Day 2. In that morning session, you know,

01:41a few things go our way. It could have been a different sort of story. But, you know,

01:47hats off to Essex. They were in control of the game and they batted well. And, again,

01:51we walk away not at our best, but still with a draw intact, which is obviously positive

01:58for everyone. But, you know, the form of Ackerman and Robinson and then Kyle Parkinson taking

02:03five wickets, good signs for us.

02:06Campbell then looked ahead to what will be a busy summer at the riverside, with Durham

02:10competing on three fronts as usual, and revealed that they will soon turn their preparations

02:16towards the white ball competitions.

02:19Yeah, the plan is to have some fun and play some white ball. So we're going to go straight

02:25into T20 mode. We're going to have a couple of days of hitting some big sixes and bowling

02:31some good stuff with the white ball. Because, you know, we have to have one eye on that

02:37competition as well. And the facts are we'll finish three more four-day matches and then

02:43play a T20 two days later. So we don't get an opportunity to prepare. So, you know, for

02:49us this week, after a bit of a rest, we'll be white ball and then the guys will have

02:55a few days off and then we'll come back into the red ball and prepare for Hampshire.

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