The County Championship continues to come thick and fast as Durham are straight back in action tomorrow taking on Middlesex at 10:30am at Banks Homes Riverside.
Following Durham’s 153-run win over Northamptonshire on Saturday, Ryan Campbell’s side are closing in on promotion back to Division One of the Rothesay County Championship.
Campbell has named a squad of 13 for the visit of Middlesex which includes the return of Brydon Carse, Ben Raine and Duanne Olivier.
Carse missed the trip to Northamptonshire to manage his workload, while Raine returned to action for the Seconds last week following the recent birth of his second child.
Matthew Potts and Ben Stokes drop out of the 13 as the pair are rested following a heavy period of bowling.
David Bedingham has returned to South Africa ahead of their upcoming home Test series against Australia with Mayank Agarwal and Duanne Olivier Durham’s two overseas players available for selection.
Going into round 12 Durham sit in first place with 210 points, 40 ahead of second place Kent on 170 while Northamptonshire are in third spot on 155 points.
Words from Ryan Campbell
We’ve been challenged this year, and we’ve made no reservations that our biggest goal was to get promoted, and we’re going to have some challenges along the way. And I thought, Northants have been an amazing team all year and given the surface was stacked in the favours of the spinners, and they’ve got two pretty good ones, it was always going to be tough.
But like we just kept saying, every run we scored in that second innings, it’s going to be tougher to chase down on that last day because we felt that the wicket was always going to go one way. Did I think we could bowl them out for 50? Probably not. But you know, Callum Parkinson, what can you say? Fantastic.
We set out to get promoted, and with three games to go, we’re almost there. It just also allows us to rest a few aching bodies against Middlesex. We’ve had a number of injuries this year, and we’ve managed them really well. And this group here have played a lot of games in a row, including the One Day Cup semi-finals and quarter-finals, and all that. So yeah, I think we won’t take the foot off the gas, but it is an opportunity for us to rest a couple. We left Carse, Raine, Olivier back home just for that reason, to make sure they’re prepared, and you know, hopefully they can come into the team next week, and we can have a good game against Middlesex.
This time last year I had four loanees. We had about six overseas pros that we’d been through, and we couldn’t get a bowling unit together. So, yeah, this year it’s been a bit more gentle on us, and some of our youngsters have got through. But again, now they’re injured as well. So, thankfully we’ve put a pretty solid group together, and hopefully we can get through the end of the year.
Squad v Middlesex (8-11 September)
Colin Ackermann, Mayank Agarwal, Kasey Aldridge, Brydon Carse, Graham Clark, Shafiqullah Ghafari, Alex Lees*, Ben McKinney, Duanne Olivier, Callum Parkinson, Ben Raine, Will Rhodes, Ollie Robinson+.
Opposition Corner
Captain: Leus du Plooy
Head coach: Peter Fulton
2025 finish: 4th
2025 highest run-scorer: Leus du Plooy (1,009)
2025 highest wicket-taker: Toby Roland-Jones (45)
Key winter moves: Middlesex made their only significant change off the field, with ex-New Zealand international Peter Fulton appointed as head coach after a successful six-year stint with Canterbury. On the playing side, it’s basically as you were. Experienced top-order batter Stephen Eskinazi, who was on loan at Leicestershire at the end of last season, converted that temporary switch into a permanent one.
What we’re looking forward to seeing: Josh de Caires started out as an opener, then morphed into a frontline off-spinner batting at seven before returning to the top of the order in the second half of last season. Having passed 50 four times in six games and earned himself a new contract, de Caires now has the chance to nail down his spot as Sam Robson’s opening partner if he can begin turning some of those into hundreds.
Aiming to catch Test selectors’ eye: Already a mainstay of the England Under-19 side that reached the World Cup final in February, 18-year-old seamer Sebastian Morgan made a strong impression in his first three Rothesay County Championship appearances for Middlesex. Morgan’s potential with the bat will also have been noted after his mature knock of 97, coming in at nine against Gloucestershire.
Final thought: Morgan is part of a crop of promising young pace bowlers emerging from Middlesex’s academy, along with the likes of Noah Cornwell, Naavya Sharma and Jamie Feldman. If the younger quicks continue making strides to back up the ever-reliable Toby Roland-Jones and Ryan Higgins, Middlesex could force their way back into the promotion conversation. That will also need an experienced batting line-up including Robson, Du Plooy, Higgins and Max Holden to put big scores on the board.
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 Cricket YouTube channel. Durham Cricket will have full coverage on social media, with a full match report at the close.