Durham head to the Utilita Bowl to face Hampshire, looking for a second successive win after last week’s triumph against Worcestershire.
Ryan Campbell has named a squad of 15 to head down to the south coast which includes the return of Callum Parkinson.
Matthew Potts and Brendan Doggett remain in the squad and are in line to return to action, having missed out last week.
Jake Ball and Codi Yusuf are set for their second Durham appearances after impressing last week whilst Jack Blatherwick is also in contention to feature in Southampton with the Lancashire seamer on loan for at least another seven days.
Emilio Gay remains in the squad and could make a return to the side after missing out due to injury at New Road last week.
David Bedingham continues to be monitored by the Durham Cricket Science and Medicine team ahead of his return to action – but remains unavailable for selection.
Hampshire sit in seventh place on 43 points in Division One, one place below Durham on 45 points having had a rest week in round 4 of the Rothesay County Championship.
Words from Alex Lees
We are delighted with the win against Worcestershire. The guys bowled incredibly in the third innings of the game after we had done well to get close to them with the bat. George Drissell is a quality batter and his knock was a match-winning innings in the context of the game. The game ebbed and flowed across the two days but little contributions like that are absolutely crucial.
Then it was an outstanding opening bowling spell by Ben Raine, ably supported by the other seamers. It was hard for the batters. Some of those balls were literally unplayable. It is hard to take for whoever loses a game like this so I’m just glad we came out on the right side and hopefully it will kick-start our season.
It is a great to have a couple of bonus days off. We have got ten injuries in this first block of games so to have some extra time to recover is amazing. To have those extra days means we can get some proper prep in and the bowlers have time to rest and hopefully be ready for Hampshire when hopefully we can pick from a full 15 whereas in this game we had 12 fit players to pick from.
Squad v Hampshire (2-5 May)
Colin Ackermann, Jake Ball, Jack Blatherwick, Graham Clark, Brendan Doggett, George Drissell, Emilio Gay, Alex Lees*, Ben McKinney, Callum Parkinson, Matthew Potts, Ben Raine, Will Rhodes, Ollie Robinson+, Codi Yusuf
Opposition Corner
Captain: Ben Brown
Head Coach: Adi Birrell
2024 finish: Second
2024 highest run-scorer: James Vince (986)
2024 highest wicket-taker: Liam Dawson (54)
Key winter moves: The winter has been tumultuous with James Vince moving to Dubai – after attacks on his family house last summer – while Mo Abbas hasn’t been retained as overseas. That is over 1,000 runs and 36 wickets from last season alone to recover. Experienced top-order batter Mark Stoneman has been added to somewhat fill the Vince void, while a battery of fast bowlers will replace Abbas. Sonny Baker, who has arrived from Somerset, is one of them.
What we’re looking forward to seeing: The fastest of fast bowling attacks. Abbas’ exit frees up space for some of the quickest young talent on the circuit. Baker, John Turner, Scott Currie, Brad Wheal and Eddie Jack can all bowl in the vicinity of 90mph. Kyle Abbott will once again lead the attack, with the experienced heads of Keith Barker and James Fuller helping to oversee the crop of wunderkinder.
Player to watch: Tom Prest will soften the blow of Vince’s migration. He ticks the batting aesthetic, quick-scoring and slip fielding boxes, and most importantly the run scoring. Prest is quite simply a Vince clone with 24 rather than 14 on his back. Three centuries last year at an average of just over 48 suggest he could not only get out of Vince’s shadow in 2025, but eclipse it.
Final thought: Hampshire have finished in the top three in each of the past three seasons, with 2024’s second-place finish their highest since 2005. One further step shouldn’t be that big, and yet without Vince it feels massive. Ben Brown is now captain, with the likes of Nick Gubbins and the increasingly impressive Liam Dawson crucial in filling the leadership and batting vacuum. Indian-based GMR Group took over Hampshire over the winter – making them the first overseas-owned county – although little is expected to change off the field in 2025.
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 Hampshire YouTube channel, Durham Cricket will have full coverage on social media, with a full match report at the close.