Durham Women are set to begin their 2026 pre-season preparations with two warm-up fixtures against The Blaze in Spain.
Dani Hazell has taken a squad of 12 to Desert Springs for a week of warm weather training before two practice matches against The Blaze at the end of the week, starting with a T20 on Friday 27 May followed by a 50-over game on Saturday 28 March.
Academy all-rounder Charlotte Stubbs is amongst the squad of 12 and could make her first Durham senior appearance in Spain.
Captain Hollie Armitage will join up with the squad on their return from Desert Springs having recently represented South Australia in the WNCL, whilst Lauren Filer and Mady Villiers featured in England’s recent intra-squad T20 series in South Africa.
Squad
Katherine Fraser, Abi Glen, Bess Heath, Katie Levick, Emma Marlow, Harriet Robson, Mia Rogers, Charlotte Stubbs, Grace Thompson, Phoebe Turner, Sophia Turner, Emily Windsor.
Words from Dani Hazell
It’s really important that we get some match practice out here so having The Blaze out here as well is a good opportunity for both teams to start to get some game time on grass. We’ve had a couple of days training and now we have a couple of games so it is quite short and sharp.
(On facing The Blaze) With a couple of faces missing it’s a chance for everybody to get involved and put some performances in. They are practice games but equally it starts to paint a picture for your season. We are looking forward to that and I know the girls are really keen to get going.
This is quite a strong senior side, most of our senior players are here. There are a couple who have been away in Australia and a couple away that are on England camps at the moment but it is still a strong senior side. It is a smaller squad than we’d usually take so there will be opportunities for everybody.
Match Centre
You can follow with live scorecards and updates on Durham’s Fixtures page with a full match report available after both games.