After a 7-year hiatus, Durham make their return to Division One of the Vitality County Championship when they host Hampshire at Seat Unique Riverside tomorrow at 11am.
Ryan Campbell’s side will return to Chester le Street for the first time since their Division Two Championship winning Friday back in the sunshine, when they enjoyed an innings & and 141 run win over Leicestershire.
Campbell has named a 13-player squad for Friday’s opening round of fixtures which includes new signings Colin Ackermann and Callum Parkinson.
Ackermann and Parkinson both made their Durham First-class debuts in Zimbabwe but are in line to make their debut for the Club in the County Championship tomorrow.
Scott Boland has arrived in the North East but isn’t available for the Hampshire fixture this week and will train at Seat Unique Riverside ahead of next week’s fixture against Warwickshire at Edgbaston.
Words from Ryan Campbell
You just need to look around the fields and see how much water we have had in the region over the last few months, unfortunately Chester le Street has had a fair bit of rain, so it is pretty wet out there.
We are all really excited for tomorrow, it is always a special time and after our performances last year I think there is an expectation on us again this year to go out and back up how we did in 2024. The team is in a good place and we can’t wait to step out and perform this weekend, whenever that may be.
We are not here just to compete in Division One, we are here to win in it, and I believe we have a squad which can take us there, we want to win the whole thing. With the additions of Scott Boland, Colin Ackermann and Callum Parkinson it really strengthens our squad. We want to compete with the best, and that is what excites everyone at the Club.
I understand we will have some bumps along the way, but we will continue with that attacking cricket and it’s once again going to be a fun ride.
Hampshire are a very strong side, they have a proven seam bowling attack, which has performed very well for a number of years, they will 100% test our batters and I think it is the perfect way to start our season off against Hampshire tomorrow.
Squad v Hampshire (5-8 April)
Colin Ackerman, David Bedingham, Scott Borthwick*, Brydon Carse, Graham Clark, Paul Coughlin, Bas de Leede, Michael Jones, Alex Lees (vc), Callum Parkinson, Matthew Potts, Ben Raine, Ollie Robinson+
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 Durham YouTube channel with live commentary brought to you by Ash Thorpe and Rob Rush. Durham Cricket will have full coverage on social media, with a full match report at the close.