Durham not quite ready for Division One cricket, admits James Franklin

Franklin has conceded that Durham were not good enough this term to retake their place in the top division, although he is pleased with the improvement of his team over the course of the campaign

Head coach James Franklin has admitted that Durham were not quite ready to return to Specsavers County Championship Division One after seeing their campaign peter out in the final two matches.

The New Zealander had a tough start to his reign after replacing Jon Lewis in the off-season. Durham lost their opening four Championship matches to leave themselves well off the pace for promotion.

However, they rounded into form with an unbeaten run of eight matches, including five victories with a notable triumph over Middlesex at Lord’s. A defeat at the hands of Northamptonshire ended their hopes of a return to Division One, while the year ended with a washout against Glamorgan.

Franklin has conceded that Durham were not good enough this term to retake their place in the top division, although he is pleased with the improvement of his team over the course of the campaign.

“You get what you deserve and the reflection from myself is that we’re not ready for Division One cricket,” he said.

“It’s a marathon and we got it right for eight games, but you need to get it right for 14 games. You see it with Lancashire, although they’ve taken their foot a little off the gas at Leicestershire.

“They were outstanding for 13 games. You see it in the top division. Somerset were so good for four-and-half months of the season, but they let it slip over the last month or so. We know that we’re not quite ready, but we could be next year or the year after.

“We have to keep pushing forward to keep wanting improvement out of each other and the team to get back into Division One.

“I think progress has been made. We were in contention for promotion going into the final two rounds of the Championship season. We just fell away last week against Northamptonshire, which we’ve only got ourselves to blame, we didn’t have the greatest few days of cricket.

“We can be proud of how we responded after such a poor start to the season. To go on a streak of eight matches unbeaten and pull ourselves up the table, and ultimately be in contention for promotion with two weeks to go we can be proud of that.

“We’re not kidding ourselves, we’ve still got work to do if we want to seriously challenge next season and earn promotion to become a Division One team again.”

^{Durham went eight games unbeaten after a slow start}

Durham will welcome back Cameron Bancroft for the 2020 season after losing their skipper to Australia’s Ashes squad.

Franklin believes that Bancroft played a huge role in the club’s turnaround and is optimistic that both he and the Aussie can continue to take the north-east outfit forward in their second season at Emirates Riverside.

“I think we started to see with Cameron just before he got picked for the Ashes what a very good performer he is,” Franklin said.

“He was a large part of a turnaround in the Championship season. The resilience that he showed as a player and ultimately his demands as a leader really started to move the squad forward.

“We’re all very excited about him coming back and trying to pick up from where he left off, and then to try to develop further as a player and a leader.”

He added: “I’ve taken a lot learnings from the first season in charge. It has gone fast, but the big lesson for me has been learning about people, character and how players respond to pressure with the highs and lows of the season.

“I’m excited about working with these guys in the winter. We’ll look to make progress again next year and to make improvements not only with individual players, but also behind the scenes to keep pushing Durham Cricket back to where we all want it to be in Division One and challenging for trophies in one-day cricket.”

Courtesy of the ECB Reporters Network.