BEN Raine appears to have jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire this off-season but the all-rounder is adamant Durham can burn their way through Division Two this summer.
The all-rounder quit perennial strugglers Leicestershire after six seasons to return to his native north-east and the club where it all began. But things are far different at the Riverside these days.
Raine left a Durham team that would go on to win their third County Championship title in 2013 but now returns to a club that is plotting its route back to those heady heights after a sudden fall from grace.
The county’s problems are well documented. They were relegated in 2016, despite finishing fourth, following a 30point deduction as a punishment for failing to control a debt that spiralled to £7.5m, while they were stripped of the right to host Test cricket.
Some of their best players rushed through the exit door, including England’s Keaton Jennings and Mark Stoneman, and they won just three times in redball cricket in 2017, while failing to reach the knockout stages in either one-day competition. The only team they finished above was Raine’s Leicestershire.
Last season proved similarly tough but from the ashes comes green shoots of life, spearheaded by Raine.
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