Durham will be looking to round off their Metro Bank One Day Cup group stage campaign in winning fashion as they head to Darlington Cricket Club to face Essex in the penultimate group B clash of the 2026 season.
Ryan Campbell has named a 13-player squad for the Sunday fixture which sees the return of David Bedingham who is in line to play his first List A game of the summer.
Bedingham who has been in South Africa for the past month has returned to Durham ahead of the resumption of the County Championship and is now available for the conclusion of the Metro Bank One Day Cup.
Emilio Gay drops out of the squad and although the left-hander suffered a shoulder injury against Middlesex on Friday, Gay was due to miss the final two group stage matches ahead of England’s Test series against Pakistan.
Graham Clark remains unavailable due to his selection for the Sunrisers Leeds Hundred franchise, having been selected as an injury replacement for Tom Alsop.
Essex are fifth in Group B having enjoyed three wins from six and sit on 12 points, four points behind Durham in third place.
The Chelmsford side are without five players to the Hundred with Sam Cook, Paul Walter, Jordan Cox, Charlie Allison and Michael Pepper all on franchise duty.
Words from Ryan Campbell
Squad v Essex (9 August)
Colin Ackermann, Kasey Aldridge*, David Bedingham, George Drissell, Shafiqullah Ghafari, Alex Lees, James Minto, Haydon Mustard, Duanne Olivier, Will Rhodes, Luke Robinson, Ollie Robinson+, Ben Stokes.
Opposition Corner
Captain: Tom Westley
2025 Position: 4th (Group A)
2025 Most Runs: Tom Westley (561)
2025 Most Wickets: Charlie Bennett & Matt Critchley (12)
Why they can win the competition: Momentum. Essex won their last five games in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup last season, so are clearly on a roll, albeit after an interval of a year. The squad is largely unchanged and has since added experience and depth.
Player to watch: Tom Westley – the experienced captain enjoyed a purple patch in the competition a year ago with two centuries and 561 runs at an average of 70. Having sat out the Vitality T20 Blast he will be fresh and raring to go.
Young gun: Mitchell Killeen – the 21-year-old seamer made his Essex debut earlier in the competition having made the move from Chester le Street to Chelmsford during the off-season. The 50-over competition could provide him with the opening he requires to kickstart his Essex career.
Final thought: It’s not just a development competition for players. For the second year, Essex entrust head-coach duties to batting coach Tom Huggins to enhance his education. Last season he oversaw five victories at a time when Essex couldn’t buy a win.
Match Centre
The Club’s match centre will be in operation for the fixture with live scorecards, statistics & video highlights as they happen. For this game only Durham Cricket will unfortunately not offer a multi-camera live stream with commentary – the club will offer a basic end to end stream.