Raine relishing Riverside return

Leicestershire CCC’s new ball attack is heading to familiar territory for the latest Specsavers County Championship challenge.

Ben Raine and Varun Aaron both represented tomorrow's opponents Durham CCC earlier in their career, with the former coming through the Academy set-up and the India international having a spell in the north-east in September 2014.

The 26-year-old Raine has made an impressive all-rounder start to the season, picking up six wickets and hitting 87 runs at close to a run a ball in County's two solid draws against Sussex CCC and Derbyshire CCC to date. He also took two fine catches against the club’s East Midlands rivals.

Raine said: “I'm happy with how things have gone with the bat, certainly - I had a think about my batting this winter and decided to try and play more positively, the way I did when I was younger. 

“It sounds simple but I was maybe putting a bit too much pressure on myself, and so not enjoying batting so much. So far it's worked and that's the way I'm going to continue to play.”

The quality of his seam bowling has led to him being handed the new ball, but Raine, who took 61 Specsavers County Championship wickets in 2015, 35 in 2016, and 33 last year, when he missed five matches through injury, believes there is more to come.

He said: “It's always nice to have the new ball in your hand, but I definitely need to be more consistent. A lot of our pre-season was on heavy ground when it was tough to find a rhythm, but I started to feel better against Sussex, I've worked hard in the nets this week, and hopefully I'll take that to Durham.

“I was pleased with the catches, especially the first [a low, diving effort to scoop up a cleanly-hit pull at mid-wicket]. I tried to play it cool, but I've never taken a catch like that before so I was buzzing!”

Leicestershire CCC Head Coach Paul Nixon is looking forward to a competitive game, and is excited by the prospect of Raine and Aaron bowling in tandem.

“The Durham lads have had a tough time with the weather, as have we all, but they'll be eager and desperate to do well, and it's always a good contest up there,” said Nixon.

“Our second team played there last week and it was a pretty good surface, so we'll see what they've prepared when we get there later. We've had two good solid performances, but it looks like we're finally going to get a full four days of decent weather, and we're ready to go.

“Ben [Raine] has taken really well to his role opening the bowling. He is making people play a lot more, which is something that we’re really conscious of. Varun [Aaron] has settled in really nicely, he’s played for Durham in the past so will want to do well against his former county. Let’s hope he can fire the turbo up and hit 90 miles per hour.”

Aaron played alongside five England test cricketers past and present in his one appearance at Emirates Riverside: Mark Stoneman, Keaton Jennings, Scott Borthwick, Ben Stokes and Paul Collingwood.

Durham CCC has seen a lot of changes since then but the evergreen Collingwood remains a constant in the team. Collingwood scored more than 1,000 first-class runs at a shade under 50 in 2017 and will captain the side.

The home team’s overseas player is Aiden Markram, an opening batsman that Leicestershire CCC came across in 2017 on their pre-season tour to South Africa. Markram, who has scored 1,000 runs in his first ten test match appearances for the Proteas, played against the Foxes for Multiply Titans.

Having been able to play only one full day's cricket in pre-season, Durham CCC was beaten by Kent CCC in their first match and then travelled to Northampton where the weather prevented a single ball being bowled.

But Durham CCC has a good squad despite their testing start, and Raine, who hails from nearby Sunderland, said that Leicestershire CCC will be taking nothing for granted.

“On paper it looks like they're struggling, but the reality is they've hardly been able to get out into the middle. They have a lot of very good players, they often seem to perform at their best when they're under pressure, and there's no way we'll be underestimating them.”

Leicestershire CCC (from 12): Carberry (capt), Aaron, Ackermann, Cosgrove, Eckersley, Dexter, Griffiths, Hill, Horton, Klein, Parkinson, Raine.    

Durham CCC (from 12): Collingwood (capt), Markram, Steel, Smith, Harte, Clark, Richardson, Poynter, Rimmington, Weighell, McCarthy, Rushworth.

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