Durham will look to back up Sunday’s victory over Warwickshire when they head to the Ambassador Cruise Line Ground to take on Essex.
Danielle Hazell has named a 13-player squad for the trip to face Essex with the inclusion of Durham Academy batter Harriet Robson.
Robson is in contention to make her List A debut for Durham, having signed a short term rookie contract and will remain with the squad ahead of Friday’s Vitality Women’s T20 County Cup encounter against Somerset.
Trudy Johnson drops out of the squad whilst Leah Dobson, Lauren Filer, Emily Windsor and Lizzie Scott remain unavailable due to injury.
Durham face an Essex side who suffered a narrow defeat to Hampshire at the weekend, losing by 17 runs after Hampshire posted 273/5.
Durham remain in seventh place in the Metro Bank One Day Cup league table with two wins from six matches and face an Essex side who have taken one win from their opening six, lying in eighth place.
Words from Mady Villiers
We’ve had a bit of a rough patch and we’ve not been far off in a couple of games. It’s just been tying everything together and I think we did that really well against Warwickshire.
(On her first Durham wickets) After going five odd games without getting a wicket, it’s nice to get the monkey off your back and hopefully now I can pick up a few more.
I love fielding because you’re not doing it for yourself, you’re doing it for the girls who throw themselves around for you so it’s nice to pay back in that sense. I just love all three facets of the game. To keep getting better at all three is all I want to do.
I feel like I’ve not been far off with the bat in the last few games. I’ve got starts in most of the games and I haven’t been able to kick on and get the team over the line so it was nice to kick on.
Squad v Essex (14 May)
Hollie Armitage*, Suzie Bates, Katherine Fraser, Abi Glen, Bess Heath+, Katie Levick, Emma Marlow, Harriet Robson, Mia Rogers, Grace Thompson, Phoebe Turner, Sophia Turner, Mady Villiers
Opposition Corner
Captain: Grace Scrivens
Head Coach: Andy Tennant
The big question: Arguably, Essex have the most settled line-up of the Tier One sides having largely kept together the Sunrisers’ Rachael Heyhoe Flint winning team from last season. That success came after three seasons of huge struggles, so having found a winning formula can this already bonded group repeat the trick?
Player to watch: Sophie Munro. Only Phoebe Turner took more than Munro’s 22 wickets in 50-over cricket last term. The 23-year-old seamer excelled after arriving on loan from The Blaze, proving especially adept towards the back end of an innings including the ‘death overs’. Munro made the move south from Nottingham permanent last September.
Young gun: Sophia Smale. Winning sides tweak, so the fact Smale is the only new addition is intriguing. The slow left-armer fills the void left by Mady Villiers’s departure to Durham, complementing the right-arm leg-spin of both Jodi Grewcock and Abtaha Maqsood in a powerful bowling unit. Only 19, Newport-born Smale has huge potential.
Final thought: Essex will bowl opposition sides out, so the challenge will be scoring enough runs, particularly when setting a target. Skipper Grace Scrivens will lead from the front, and it may need Cordelia Griffith to follow up on her four fifties in the last five games of last season if they are to regularly post totals in excess of 250.
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 Essex YouTube channel. Durham Cricket will have full coverage on social media, with a full match report at the close.