Don't forget Ian Westwood inherited a captain he didn't select, and from day one was shown to be a poor leader and totally unsuited for the role.

There seems to be a much better working relationship with Ed Barnard this season. It is a shame Sam Hain is injured an unable to provide runs and leadership during tthe Metro Bank Cup.

paulbear wrote:

Always liked Will, stayed very humble when we won the title in 2021, no showboating or fist-pumping histrionics, those 4 days v Somerset when I was FORCED to take a long 'Sickie' in scorching sunshine and watched us gradually come out on top, I will not forget and I hope he can keep going. Strange how he has prospered more for Durham in One-Day games seeing as we always appeared reluctant to play him in T20's.

not that reluctant to play him- he played 35 T20 games between 2019 and 2021, that's virtually every game in that period. its just that he wasn't a very good batsmen in T20 cricket. Hain got more runs in the 2024 season alone than Rhodes got in 4. Rhodes' SR was under 130 for us, batting at that rate will lose your team a lot of games nowadays.

on the evidence of his time with us 50ovs suited him far batter, so good form in the 50ovs nowadays wouldn't come as that much of a surprise or contradiction. some players' games never quite adapt to T20 even as they show themselves to be good or competent at 50 over batting. Sibley would be another example

Besides, for the T20 games Rhodes wasn't being selected for, I don't think he was next cab off the rank if we had dropped say Benjamin. Both Burgess and Barnard were being left out of the T20 lineup at the time and they both are demonstrably better T20/white ball batsmen

Interesting that he only played in six of Durham's T20 games this year, achieved little with the bat and didn't bowl. So if his main reason for leaving really was because we wouldn't pick him for the T20 team, it hasn't worked out too well for him.

Selecting a batsman who averaged just 3.5 in this years competition didn't help us win many games.

If it was keeping Davies or Rhodes &/or Chris Benjamin I know what I'd have chosen.