Durham will be looking to bounce back from Sunday’s 9 wicket defeat to Hampshire when they travel to Trent Bridge tomorrow to take on The Blaze. [10:30am]
Dani Hazell has named a squad of 13 as Durham look to remain in contention for the knockout stages of the Metro Bank 50 over competition, with Leah Dobson the only omission from the squad named to take on Hampshire yesterday.
With just two group games remaining in the Women’s Metro Bank One Day Cup, Durham will need to return back to winning ways quickly if they are to reach the final four and progress into the semi-finals of the List A competition.
Following defeat to Hampshire, Durham remain in fifth place with 26 points with 5 wins from 12 games and go up against a Nottinghamshire side who are second in the group having secured 7 wins and lost just three times.
Hollie Armitage leads the way for Durham with 586 runs, with Phoebe Turner top of the wicket taking tally with 21 poles.
Words from Dani Hazell
The performance against Hampshire was not how we would have planned things out. I thought Hollie batted extremely well. Young Tommo showed what she can do with the bat, and looking into the future, what a cricketer that we want to keep pushing forward.
They’re the positives, but at the end of the day, it’s plenty of things that we need to do a little bit better. It probably was just being a little bit short of extending our skills for longer. But, again, I thought Hollie showed us how to do that. Just another batter scoring 60 or 70, and you put 270, 280 on the board, and it’s a bit different.
We dust it off and let’s get ourselves down to Nottingham and let’s make these last two games really interesting.
We made a big point before the game. It was contributions from everybody over these next three games. And when you have that long to bat, it’s an opportunity to do that. It’s can we keep picking those smart options over a longer period. It felt like a long time today. And I’m sure as a batter, it’s can we keep batting. Can we keep concentrating for 35, 40, 45 overs.
There’s going to be some shock results here and there. A lot of teams are very different. So I think there’s still a long way to go over this next week. Let’s make sure that we know we’ve put the performance in that we want to and we’ll see where we are.
Squad v The Blaze (9 August)
Hollie Armitage*, Katherine Fraser, Abi Glen, Bess Heath, Trudy Johnson, Katie Levick, Emma Marlow, Mia Rogers, Grace Thompson, Phoebe Turner, Sophia Turner, Mady Villiers, Emily Windsor
Opposition Corner
Captain: Kirstie Gordon
Head Coach: Craig Cumming
The big questions: After winning their first trophy in the 2024 Charlotte Edwards Cup, how will The Blaze fare now that head coach Chris Guest has left to lead England’s Under-19s Women? Can successor Craig Cumming, the ex-New Zealand Test batter, duplicate his success with Otago Sparks after two domestic 50-over titles in three years?
Player to watch: The return of former Loughborough Lightning captain Georgia Elwiss to the East Midlands after four trophy-laden seasons with Southern Vipers adds proven experience and availability to The Blaze squad. The 33-year-old former England all-rounder’s 2024 campaign was among the best of her career, including 488 runs at 69.71 in the 50-over competition.
Young gun: Josie Groves has taken 20 List A wickets in the past two seasons yet the leg spinner has only just turned 20 and is still looking to realise her full potential both as a bowler and batter. An Under-19s World Cup finalist, she is likely to have a big part to play this season.
Final thought: Last year’s 20-over champions and 50-over finalists two years ago, The Blaze have added a fourth current England player in Amy Jones to the squad with all-rounders Orla Prendergast (Ireland) and Heather Graham (Australia) sharing overseas duties. Stung by failing to make the knock-out stage in last season’s 50-over competition, they will be eager to put that right.
Match Centre
The Club’s match centre will be in operation for the fixture with live scorecards, statistics & video highlights as they happen. You can watch the game live via Durham’s match centre and The Blaze YouTube channel. Durham Cricket will have full coverage on social media, with a full match report at the close.