Durham are back in Rothesay County Championship action at Banks Homes Riverside tomorrow, facing Surrey at 11am.
Ryan Campbell has named a squad of 14, welcoming back Mitchell Killeen into contention with Neil Wagner and David Bedingham dropping out of the squad that faced Somerset last week.
Wagner has been ruled out with injury whilst Bedingham has returned to South Africa for the Cricket South Africa Awards Ceremony with Codi Yusuf available as Durham’s only overseas player to face Surrey.
The Kookaburra ball will be utilised in this round of County Championships fixtures for the final time this season.
Durham return to Chester-le-Street in eighth place in Division One on 111 points with two wins this season and face an undefeated Surrey side who are top of the table by one point on 154 points with three wins and seven draws.
Alex Lees is Durham’s top run scorer in the County Championship with 768 runs this season whilst Ben Raine lead the bowling attack with 30 scalps do far.
Words from Graham Onions
In the end we came pretty close to turning the game around against Somerset and sometimes it can be even more frustrating to lose that way.
Our first innings has probably cost us, but as we do at Durham we put up an incredible amount of fight. If we could just have set them 150 in their second innings I think we could have won.
The pitch helped the bowlers, but we have to be honest with ourselves and admit that looking back we could have done better with some of our dismissals.
I’m pleased for Callum Parkinson today as I was for George Drissell. We knew spin would play a big part in the match and, having been out of the team, Parky has worked really hard to put himself back in the frame.
Squad v Surrey (29 July – 1 August)
Colin Ackermann, Graham Clark, Bas de Leede, George Drissell, Emilio Gay, Alex Lees*, Mitchell Killeen, Ben McKinney, Callum Parkinson, Matthew Potts, Ben Raine, Will Rhodes, Ollie Robinson+, Codi Yusuf
Opposition Corner
Captain: Rory Burns
Head Coach: Gareth Batty
2024 finish: Champions
2024 highest run-scorer: Rory Burns (1,073)
2024 highest wicket-taker: Dan Worrall (52)
Key winter moves: The arrival from Yorkshire of Matt Fisher is expected to strengthen still further Surrey’s all-powerful fast-bowling stocks. Fisher, at 27, sees the move as a chance to push on an already promising career and reach new levels in both county and international cricket. From the start of May, too, the champions’ enviable pace battery will be boosted by Nathan Smith, who joins as Surrey’s latest overseas signing and who is available, outside any New Zealand commitments, for the rest of the summer.
What we’re looking forward to seeing: Can anyone stop Surrey, champions for the last three seasons, completing a fourth consecutive title triumph? And will newly-qualified pace ace Dan Worrall, the spearhead of the glorious ‘three-peat’ with 139 wickets at 21.17 since joining Surrey for the start of the 2022 season, continue his remarkable late-career Surrey surge by winning an England Test call at 33?
Player to watch: Although many eyes will be on Fisher, who won his only England Test cap of an injury-studded career to date in March 2022, expect exciting 22-year-old Tom Lawes to kick on this season. Lawes, who can also bat in the lower middle order, already has 74 first-class wickets at 24.36 but – swinging the ball both ways at sharp pace – he can get much better yet.
Final thought: As ever, Surrey will have to juggle their considerable resources cleverly given the many calls from England red-ball and white-ball squads, plus the Indian Premier League during the county season’s early stages. The spine of the championship team, however, looks as reassuringly solid as before: skipper Burns and Dom Sibley at the top of the order, Ben Foakes to keep wicket peerlessly and add consistent runs to a strong and deep batting line-up, while Jordan Clark (116 wickets in the last three years) helps Worrall (and Lawes) lead the attack.
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 the match will also be available on Durham’s YouTube channel. Durham Cricket will have full coverage on social media, with a full match report at the close.