Durham Uni Cricketers Bowled Out For Record Low Score

Durham University recorded the 3rd lowest innings score in English first class cricket last week as they were bowled out by Durham County for just 18 runs in their second innings.

The only lower innings scores were the 14 runs recoded by Essex against Surrey in 1983, and the 15 runs scored by Hampshire in 1922 at Edgbaston.

It was also a record for Durham County who had previously never bowled any team out for fewer than 56 runs.

"We had an absolute shocker", commented head coach Graeme Fowler.

This record low score summed up a miserable game for DUCC who in total lost by 373 runs against a strong Durham County lineup including England internationals Paul Collingwood, Graham Onions and Liam Plunkett.

Durham County were put into bat first in the match and managed to notch up a solid score of 315-4 before declaring. The innings highlights included England One Day International Ben Stokes smashing 93 off 70 balls and England veteran Paul Collingwood hitting 47.

In reply Durham Uni managed 117 runs, with just three batsmen making double figures. The standout performer was Nathan Watkins who managed a resilient 38 before being left not out at the end.

Durham County then came back to bat, but a stronger bowling performance from Durham Uni denied them a chance to match the big first innings score as they declared on 193 for 7. This was mainly down to the bowling of Nathan Watkins and Jonathon Salt, who grabbed three and two wickets respectively.

With Durham Uni being now being almost 400 runs behind they needed a monumental batting performance to give themselves a chance of an upset.

Conditions were not looking good for them at the start of the day though, as overcast skies and a moist atmosphere left the swing bowlers eyeing up some early wickets.

It couldn’t have started much worse for DUCC as their top four batsmen were bowled for a total of 11 runs, with England international Graham Onions tearing into the top order.

This exposed Durham Uni’s tail who put up little resistance as the last four batsmen were all bowled for ducks, leaving them all out for the score of 18.

While Durham Uni’s batting scorecard was not much to look at Durham County were happy to see their bowling figures, with the standout being Ben Stokes who managed 4 wickets for 3 runs.

Whilst providing DUCC with some good experience of playing against quality opposition, they’ll have to quickly forget about the big loss with their first match of the BUCS Premiership campaign against Leeds set to start next week.