Durham v MCC at Abu Dhabi

23rd March - the official start to the 2014 season.

Durham take on MCC who include three Notts players.




Harry Gurney took the wicket of Mark Stoneman with his first ball of the 2014 First Class season in Abu Dhabi.

Durham all out 248, Monty Panesar 5/63, no wickets for Andre Adams or Samit Patel
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Day Two wasn't one for the Notts boys to get excited about.

Samit 17 Andre Golden Duck anf Harry 3*

MCC 282 Durham 2nd Innings 39/1
An MCC team led by Muttiah Muralitharan lost to Sussex Sharks by 12 runs in the final of the Emirates T20 Tournament in Dubai.

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As the last day starts, of the first game of the 2014 English season, MCC need 172 more runs with eight wickets intact. Durham's second innings was concluded just after tea on day 3. Harry Gurney had taken 3 wickets and Andre Adams 2. Samit still remains wicketless in 2014

Day 4

A century from Virender Sehwag and a finishing job of 48 not out from Samit Patel gave MCC a six wicket win over champions Durham.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/county-cricket-2014/engine/match/692683.html
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Graham Morris photo

MCC never looked like chasing down Sussex's target of 151, despite a late rally from Middlesex's Ollie Rayner, who finished with an unbeaten half century.

They got off to the worst possible start when they lost Luis Reece - man of the match in the semi-final - fell in the first over, and Sussex always looked to have the chase under control.

Harry Finch earlier lead the way for the Sharks - who have now won the competition three years in a row - with an unbeaten 62, backed up by 37 not out by captain Rory Hamilton-Brown.

England wicket-keeper Matt Prior made a good start to his pre-season with 35 earlier in the piece.

MCC's captain, Kyle Hogg and Harry Gurney picked up a wicket apiece for MCC.

Murali's men had earlier scraped past a Kerala Premier League XI in the second semi-final, holding on to win by just two runs.

After Sussex kicked off the tournament by beating Lancashire Lightening, MCC batted first and reached a competitve 158/5 in their 20 overs.

Reece, the young Lancashire opener, top scored with 61 - including nine fours and a six- while Sri Lanka's Test wicket-keeper Prasanna Jayawardene made a brisk 33.

In reply MCC initially appeared to have the match completely under control when seamers Gurney and Hogg conjured early strikes, and the KPL XI slumped to 44/5 at one stage, with Monty Panesar (3/26) and Andre Adams (2/21) also claiming scalps.

Number eight Pervaiz Nasir gave the favourites a real scare though, clubbing an unbeaten 56 off just 31 balls.

But it was number ten CTK Masood rather than Nasir on strike for the final ball with four needed, and his powerful drive clattered into the stumps at the bowler's end.
from the Lord's website

Warming up

In the 2 day warming up play, in Barbados, Nottinghamshire were in the field all day yesterday. Opponents Hampshire, ended their stint on 252/12 after 85 overs.
Six wickets for Andy Carter and wickets too for Luke Fletcher and Ajmal Shahzad.

On day 2 Notts scored 227/11 - Steven Mullaney 88, Riki Wessels 40 - no one else managed more than 20. Worryingly, after Chris Read pulled-up with a strain at he weekend, James Taylor also picked up a  side strain batting.