After two Rothesay County Championship rounds, Durham return to Vitality Blast action against Notts Outlaws on Friday night [6:30pm] in Chester le Street.
Ryan Campbell has named a squad of 15 including Sam Conners, Haydon Mustard and Ben McKinney- who returns from a concussion injury.
Conners is in contention to make his Durham T20 debut whilst Mustard could make his first appearance of the season for Durham, having featured twice in the Vitality Blast during 2024.
Kasey Aldridge has extended his loan spell and will be available to feature for Durham throughout the remainder of the Blast group stage. Callum Parkinson has also returned to the Club following his one match loan with Worcestershire.
Emilio Gay and Bas de Leede are away with Italy and the Netherlands for their European T20 World Cup Qualifiers over the next week at The Hague.
Ben Raine will be absent due to an ankle injury suffered against Surrey and will continue to be assessed by the Durham Cricket Science and Medical Team.
Durham have five wins and three losses from their opening eight games and sit third in the North Group whilst Notts Outlaws have won four of their opening nine games and lie sixth in the table.
Words from Ryan Campbell
We will have Thursday off and then go in fresh on Friday at home against Notts and we’ll have to look and re-jig.
Bas de Leede is away with the Netherlands and Emilio Gay is away with Italy. Ben Raine looks set for an extended period on the sidelines, but we’ll have to wait and see.
Matthew Potts has bowled a lot of overs in these last two games so we’re going to have to look at his availability as well.
The beauty of Durham is that it doesn’t matter who wears the shirt; we’ll front up and be ready to go.
Kasey Aldridge will come back with us and continue his loan spell. It will be good to have him back.
Squad v Notts Outlaws (4 July)
Colin Ackermann, Kasey Aldridge, Graham Clark, Sam Conners, George Drissell, Zak Foulkes, Alex Lees*, Ben McKinney, Haydon Mustard, Jimmy Neesham, Callum Parkinson, Matthew Potts, Will Rhodes, Ollie Robinson+, Nathan Sowter
Opposition Corner
Captain: Joe Clarke
Overseas players: Daniel Sams (Australia, full competition), Moises Henriques (Australia, full competition)
Finals Day appearances: Six (2006, 2010, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020)
Titles: Two (2017, 2020)
2024 finish: Ninth (North Group)
2024 leading runscorer: Joe Clarke (306)
2024 leading wicket taker: Olly Stone (15)
Key winter moves: There will be no Alex Hales at Trent Bridge for the first time in 17 seasons after the county’s 36-year-old all-time record runscorer opted not to return. But an Outlaws side in transition will benefit from having two experienced Australian all-rounders as overseas players in 32-year-old former Essex and Trent Rockets star Daniel Sams and 38-year-old Sydney Sixers captain Moises Henriques.
The big question: The Outlaws’ decline in this format was put in sharp focus by last season’s bottom-of-the-table finish. Can their failings be corrected in 2025? Joe Clarke will have Henriques’s leadership skills to tap into in his second season as skipper but as well as the loss of Hales, last season’s leading wicket-taker Olly Stone will miss the tournament through injury.
Wildcard watch: Freddie McCann. The 20-year-old top-order batter, with three first-class centuries to his name already, made his Blast debut against Yorkshire in the final 2024 group match and had an immediate impact, hitting 44 from 32 balls in a rare Outlaws victory. If he gets the chance to build on that as Notts seek a winning blend he could well catch someone’s eye.
Final thought: Is there a touch of back to the future about the signing of Henriques? Notts fans will hope the dynamic all-rounder carries a little of what his close friend and Big Bash-winning ex-Sydney Sixers teammate Dan Christian brought to Trent Bridge when he led the Outlaws to Blast glory in 2017 and 2021.
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.