Onions' tour aim after denying himself all ten

By Tim Wellock

Graham Onions had few regrets about denying himself the chance of all ten wickets in an innings by running out Nottinghamshire’s Luke Fletcher.

After being left out of the England Test team at Lord’s, Onions drove to Trent Bridge and finished with nine for 67 as he took out his frustrations on the County Championship title hopefuls.

There were eight wickets in the Onions bag when he ran out the dawdling Fletcher with a direct hit at the non-striker’s end from backward square leg.

Although he raised his arms in triumph, he had ruined his chance of joining Ottis Gibson as the only bowler to take all ten in a first-class innings for Durham.

“When the ball comes to you in the field it happens very quickly and I didn’t back myself to hit,” he said. “I was happy with the run-out but it would have been fantastic to take all ten. The chance doesn’t come along very often, so I had kept going even though I was tired.

“The frustration of not playing in a Test match is huge. To play for England at Lord’s is very special and I thought I was in with a chance. I was bitterly disappointed not to play, but this has put a smile on my face.

“I did the warm-up at Lord’s with the rest of the squad because you have to be ready to play, but once I knew I wasn’t in the team I got straight in my car and drove up the M1.

“I knew Durham were losing wickets so without breaking any speed limits I wanted to get to Trent Bridge as quickly as possible. I got to the ground just after we were all out and I went straight out without any lunch.

“I love playing for Durham and we have had a few lows this season, but this is a massive high. Days like this remind you why you spend so long in the gym and keeping working hard. I would like to go on England’s winter tour. The selectors know what I can do and taking wickets is only going to help me.”

Onions’ figures were the third best in Durham’s first-class history behind Gibson’s ten for 47 against Hampshire at Riverside in 2007 and Melvyn Betts’ nine for 64 at Northampton in 1997. Onions' own previous best was eight for 101 against Warwickshire at Edgbaston in 2007.


Date: 16/08/2012 20:18:09 by Tim Wellock
In: Today | England | Durham |