After two rounds of the Rothesay County Championship, Durham Men return to Vitality Blast action tomorrow heading to Richmond to take on Middlesex [2:30pm].
Ryan Campbell has named a squad of 14 for the trip down South as Durham look for their third win of the T20 campaign.
Ben McKinney is in line for a return to the Durham T20 side while James Minto is on international duty with England Under 19s ahead of their 50-over series against South Africa.
Durham face Middlesex in their second cross-group fixture, with the Seaxes sitting bottom of the South group on four points having claimed one win from their opening seven fixtures.
Campbell’s side are sixth in the North group on eight points with two wins and four losses from six games trailing the top two by eight points.
Durham’s last T20 match against Middlesex came in 2008 at the semi-final stage of the T20 Cup with Middlesex coming out on top by eight wickets at the Rose Bowl.
Words from Ryan Campbell
We head down to Middlesex off the back of a couple of fantastic red ball wins in the County Championship with two fantastic performances in front of our home crowd.
Hopefully we can get our T20 campaign back on track. We had a great start with a couple of wins before we lost our way a little bit with our batting; hopefully we’ll carry our winning momentum forward starting with a trip down to London this weekend.
Middlesex will be a different challenge for us, they obviously haven’t had the start they wanted either so I’m sure they’ll be up for it. It will be interesting to go up against someone new, club grounds are always a lottery as well. We will do our best to come back up North with the points in the bag.
Squad v Middlesex (28 June)
Colin Ackermann, Kasey Aldridge, David Bedingham, Graham Clark, Shafiqullah Ghafari, Alex Lees*, Ben McKinney, Callum Parkinson, Matthew Potts, Ben Raine, Will Rhodes, Luke Robinson, Ollie Robinson+, Nathan Sowter.
Opposition Corner
Captain: Leus du Plooy
Overseas players: Eathan Bosch (all)
Finals Day appearances: one (2008)
Titles: One (2008)
2025 finish: 8th in South Group
2025 leading run-scorer: Stephen Eskinazi (420)
2025 leading wicket-taker: Tom Helm (20)
Key winter moves: Peter Fulton has arrived from New Zealand as head coach, but stellar batter Kane Williamson won’t be returning for a second stint and leading run-scorer from 2025, former skipper Stephen Eskinazi has left for Leicestershire. England U19 World Cup final century maker Caleb Falconer has been added to the squad and seems sure to make his Blast debut, while Adam Rossington returns to the club for the first six group-stage games.
The big question: Can Fulton succeed where others have fallen short and revive the white-ball fortunes of a Middlesex team who have reached only two T20 quarter-finals since Toby Radford led them to the trophy in 2008? Two-metre Pete has form, leading previous team Canterbury to glory twice in New-Zealand’s premier white-ball competition, the Ford Trophy, though that is a 50-over format.
Wildcard watch: Caleb Falconer. The 19-year-old right-hander has already secured a Hundred contract after announcing himself to the cricketing world with that century at the U19 World Cup final in Zimbabwe. He recently made his first-class debut and looks sure to play a part for a team which needs a creative spark in the shorter format.
Final thought: Middlesex have an exciting crop of youngsters like Falconer, Sebastian Morgan, Naavya Sharma and others, some of whom took their first steps in the Blast last season. The challenge will be, with no sign of a marquee batter on the horizon, last year’s leading scorer Eskinazi having left, and wicket-keeper/batter Joe Cracknell set to miss the start of the competition with a broken finger, whether Middlesex set and chase down targets in a format where the power hitters are king.
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 Middlesex YouTube channel. Durham Cricket will have full coverage on social media, with a full match report at the close.