Cricket returns to Chester-le-Street as Durham Men wrap up their pre-season preparations against Durham UCCE this weekend [28-30 March].
Ryan Campbell has named a squad of 12 as his side return to action at Banks Homes Riverside for the first time since September 2025, taking on Durham UCCE over three days in the Club’s annual university fixture.
David Bedingham is set to feature having returned from South Africa earlier this week whilst Academy bowling all-rounder Zac Mawdsley is in contention for his maiden senior Durham appearance.
Graham Clark will lead the side out as Club Captain Alex Lees is amongst five players to drop out of the squad that faced Sussex in Hove earlier this week.
Squad
Colin Ackermann, Kasey Aldridge, David Bedingham, Graham Clark*, Sam Conners, Emilio Gay, Shafiqullah Ghafari, Zac Mawdsley, Callum Parkinson, Will Rhodes, Luke Robinson, Ollie Robinson.
Words from Ryan Campbell
(On pre-season tour) Our priority was our fast bowlers, they needed to get on the grass. We made it pretty cool for the batters, their schedules were mapped out pretty clearly but we just wanted to make it a week where it wasn’t so repetitive. We made it fun and the guys absolutely adopted it.
This winter we’ve had a lot of time with our batters for skill acquisition. It’s okay to be forward defence and play a cover drive here and there but how can we add to that; how can we be better? Can we defend with our life depending on it then hit the same ball for four or six, scoring in different ways? Those are the kind of things we’ve been working on.
We look forward to welcoming Durham Uni and playing in front of our members again, it’s been a long old while. We are rotating our bowling attack which will give a chance for some more of the guys to get some overs in and an opportunity for young Zac Mawdsley.
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 a test stream on Durham’s YouTube channel. Durham Cricket will have coverage on social media, with a match report at the close.