Durham kick off the final month of the 2026 season at the cinch County Ground against Northamptonshire in the Rothesay County Championship, from 10:30am tomorrow [Wednesday 2 September].
Ryan Campbell has named a 13-player squad for the trip to Northampton with Mayank Agarwal in line for his Durham first-class debut – after signing a deal for the final four County Championship fixtures.
Shafiqullah Ghafari is in contention for his first red ball appearance since September 2025 after impressing with 16 wickets in Durham’s Metro Bank One Day Cup campaign.
Ben Raine and Duanne Olivier are playing for Durham Second XI this week as the pair build up their fitness ahead of a return to action next week. Brydon Carse is rested for this fixture due to pre-arranged workload management with the ECB.
David Bedingham is set for his final Durham appearance of the season ahead of South Africa’s upcoming home Test series against Australia.
James Minto misses out due to a back injury while Luke Robinson (groin), Sam Conners (back) and Archie Bailey (quad) have been ruled out for the remainder of the season as they continue to be monitored by the Durham Cricket Medical team.
Durham enjoyed a 10-wicket win over Gloucestershire last week to remain undefeated, sitting top of Division Two on 191 points leading by 40 points having picked up seven victories and three draws from 10 rounds.
Darren Lehmann’s Northamptonshire sit third, level on points with second-placed Kent after picking up 16 points in a rain-affected game against the Canterbury side last time out.
David Bedingham is Division Two’s top run-scorer on 943 runs whilst Matthew Potts is the highest wicket taker in the competition with 52 poles.
Words from Ryan Campbell
I thought we were pretty outstanding against Gloucestershire.
What I’m so pleased about is that our standards continue to rise. Basically, if teams are wanting to knock us off top spot, they’ve got to come and catch us. The only way they can do that is if we drop our standards. Every day, every hour that we go out there, we’re trying to show the Durham way.
One of the things that we spoke about at length in the off-season was we had become a bit too reliant on too few individuals.
It’s either Alex Lees making a hundred, or David Bedingham in the past, or it has to be Ben Raine to take all the wickets. We’ve asked our players that everyone needs to step up, and that’s hard, of course, when you’re throwing in Ben Stokes, who’s retired from Test Cricket and is in your line-up, but we don’t want to be reliant on him either. I think it’s been pretty cool the way everyone’s stood up.
We have got a long way to go still. The finish line looks like it’s getting closer, but we’ve got some big tests in the next few weeks, and again, this time of year, we all know that our depths will be tested.
Squad v Northamptonshire (2-5 September)
Colin Ackermann, Mayank Agarwal, Kasey Aldridge, David Bedingham, Graham Clark, Shafiqullah Ghafari, Alex Lees*, Ben McKinney, Callum Parkinson, Matthew Potts, Will Rhodes, Ollie Robinson+, Ben Stokes.
Opposition Corner
Captain: Luke Procter
Head coach: Darren Lehmann
2025 finish: 7th
2025 highest run-scorer: Saif Zaib (1,425)
2025 highest wicket-taker: Calvin Harrison (36)
Key winter moves: South Australia batter Nathan McSweeney, just the second skipper to lift all three trophies in Australian domestic cricket, joins as Rothesay County Championship vice-captain fresh from winning the Sheffield Shield again. After a highly impressive loan stint in 2025, former Nottinghamshire leg-spinning all-rounder Calvin Harrison has signed a two-year deal, while explosive hitter Louis Kimber moves south from Leicestershire in search of more red-ball opportunities. Overseas bowlers Australian seamer Harry Conway and Indian international leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal return in early season and mid-summer respectively.
What we’re looking forward to seeing: Head coach Darren Lehmann has called for greater consistency and more ruthlessness, asking batters to back up promising starts with telling scores that can drive games. The club have recruited well during the winter, adding all-round depth which should create competition for places. In a tough division can they kick on now and challenge for promotion after falling away following a promising start to 2025?
Aiming to catch Test selectors’ eye: Saif Zaib finished as county cricket’s leading run scorer last season with six centuries and will be looking to build on his breakout year and show Lions/Test selectors that he can back up that form. Calvin Harrison, who toured with the Lions in February, will also be knocking on the door.
Final thought: Northamptonshire have bolstered a talented but often fragile batting line-up, but a promotion challenge will require more consistency. It will be fascinating to see whether the promising youngsters who debuted last year can press for regular spots. The evergreen Ben Sanderson will again lead the attack but much will be expected of young quick Raphy Weatherall.
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 Northamptonshire’s YouTube channel. Durham Cricket will have full coverage on social media, with a full match report at the close.