Seventeen-year-old Durham pacer James Minto scored his maiden first-class half-century today (May 17), after he was promoted to open the batting as nightwatcher in just his fifth first-class game.
After Nottinghamshire posted a big total batting first, largely thanks to Haseeb Hameed's unbeaten double-hundred, Minto walked out to bat alongside Alex Lees for just one over before the end of play on day one. Having successfully protected Lees and with regular opener McKinney still in the dressing room, Minto was on 2* overnight.
Match 46, Durham vs Nottinghamshire
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- Ball by ball Over
James Minto scores maiden first-class half-century opening the batting
On the morning of day two, the teenager exceeded the normal duties of a nightwatch, hitting his maiden first-class half-century before lunch. From his four previous first-class appearances, he had accrued a batting average of 13.33 with 40 runs from three innings. He was out two balls after lunch, pulling a short ball from Brett Hutton straight to Hameed on the leg side.
Minto's primary skill is as a left-arm pacer, having taken 10 wickets in his first-class career ahead of the match against Notts. He took a five-for for Durham against Zimbabwe A earlier this year on a preseason tour, before returning figures of 3-9 in the second match of the tour against the same opposition. His wickets included Zimbabwe Test players Ben Curran and Brian Bennett.
In his County Championship debut last season, Minto took two wickets and came out to bat at No.10, before being promoted to eight in his only other appearance in the competition in 2024.
Minto also represented England U19s in their youth 50-over series against South Africa earlier this year, taking three wickets across two matches.
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