Bas de Leede reacts to his County Championship debut where he claimed his maiden first-class wicket.
Durham made two changes to their XI from the fixture away to Glamorgan a fortnight ago, handing debuts to both Bas de Leede and Ajaz Patel.
The former made his first competitive first-class appearance in five and a half years. His only appearance to date came for Netherlands against Namibia in the now defunct Intercontinental Cup.
Due to his lack of experience of red ball cricket, de Leede was unsure of what was coming to him, he said: “To be honest I didn’t know what to expect on my Championship debut.”
Durham managed to bowl Yorkshire out for 254 on day one, which de Leede considered a success given Yorkshire opted to bat first. He added: “It went pretty well for me personally and for the team as well because we bowled well to get them out in a day.”
Not only did de Leede pick up a wicket on his first-class return, but he claimed the scalp of England International Jonny Bairstow. De Leede added: “I wasn’t feeling great with my bowling before I got my first wicket. But, to have Bairstow chop on was a great feeling for me. From then on, we were relentless with our bowling.”
De Leede continued: “I did feel something in my bowling was off, and although it may not look like that it was on my mind, so I was happy to get the wicket and after that it felt a lot better.”
De Leede’s father, Tim de Leede, had flown over from the Netherlands to watch his son play on his County Championship debut and even appeared in the commentary box! “It was good that my dad was here and in the commentary box, I’m pleased that he got to see my first wicket.”
Matthew Potts starred on day one as he acquired four wickets with Ben Raine claiming three and Brydon Carse picking up two. Bas de Leede was full of praise for the Durham bowling unit. “As a unit, the rest of the bowlers were awesome today.
“We’ve put ourselves in a good position to bowl them out within a day and if we can post a big score we can take control, which is obviously what we want.”