“Durham County Cricket Club” (CC BY 2.0) by welivecricket.com
After some restructuring which saw the return of the traditional County Championship, all the cricket fixtures for 2022 have been released. Local interest focuses on Durham who will start in Division 2 as they look to get back up into the top flight.
Demotion is still a raw topic within the club but, along with the red ball contests, there are two limited overs competitions where Durham CCC may have more of a chance of success.
County Championship Pursuits
After ten games in the first round of Championship matches last year, Durham finished in third place in Group One. That return saw the team take their spot in Division Two during the next phase but they failed to progress to the final of the Bob Willis Trophy.
In 2022, the original two-division format returns and Durham will start their campaign with a trip to Sophia Gardens in Cardiff to take on Glamorgan from April 7th. The team returns home to welcome Leicestershire at the Riverside from April 14th while Nottinghamshire will be the visitors a week later.
The full fixtures schedule is available on Durham’s official website but, for those who want to note the home matches, the additional visitors in 2022 will be Glamorgan, Worcestershire, Derbyshire, Middlesex and Sussex.
There are no postseason games in this format so the schedule for County Championship matches is fully confirmed.
Blast Off
The T20 Blast returns in 2022 as it looks to work around The Hundred for a second year in succession. The campaign begins on Wednesday May 25th while Durham’s first fixture is scheduled for the following day when they travel to Leicester.
Durham will host Worcester Rapids on June 1st while there are additional home fixtures against Northants, Birmingham, Lancashire, Yorkshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire.
Durham have yet to win the T20 Cup and that’s a record that coaches and captains will want to address in the near future. In regards to picking a winner for this year, the best betting sites for 2022 show some familiar faces at the top of the markets.
One Day Specialists Nottinghamshire and Surrey will start as favourites once bookmakers affiliated with Sbo.net start to fill up the market. Durham, along with teams such as Yorkshire, Birmingham, Kent and Worcester, will form a strong chasing pack.
There’s lots of time for those markets to change and Sbo.net will report on any updates as they come in. Visitors to the website can also enjoy opinion and news stories relating to the world of cricket and it’s also possible to put that knowledge to good use.
Anyone wishing to take that interest a stage further will find that each of the sportsbooks referenced on the website will be ready to take on new customers. In most cases, there are impressive welcome packages in place and most bookmakers will also have ongoing promotions.
Once registered, each operator will supply a choice of deposit options while online security and effective customer service are also supplied. The indications are that Durham will have a greater chance of success in the limited overs formats so could they claim silverware in the remaining competition?
Royal London Cup Slots In
The advent of The Hundred has meant that the Royal London Cup has been downgraded to a ‘development competition.’ Reserve players and developing cricketers form the 18 county sides that play the only surviving 50-Over competition in domestic English cricket.
There is an argument that the tournament has been devalued but the competitive nature still remains. In terms of fixtures, Durham begin their Royal London One Day Cup campaign with a home game against Surrey at The Riverside on August 4th. Three days later, Middlesex will be the visitors to the Riverside while additional home games will see Durham take on Gloucestershire and Sussex.
There is the potential for teams to progress to the quarter finals for more 50-Over action.
Tickets for all Durham matches will be going on sale shortly and initial preference will be given over to members of the club. A general sale will follow and it’s easy to sign up for mailing list notifications in order to be kept informed of all the key dates.