Durham are back in action on Wednesday [5:30pm], searching for a fourth straight win when they take on Worcestershire Rapids at New Road.
Ryan Campbell has named a squad of 13- with the addition of Emilio Gay to replace Bas de Leede. Durham travel to the Midlands after back-to-back wins on the road against Northamptonshire Steelbacks and Yorkshire.
Durham sit second with 16 points from six games in a tight North Group table and have two fixtures remaining in the opening Vitality Blast fixture block.
Campbell’s side are looking for four consecutive victories in the Vitality Blast for the first time since 2020, after three wins on the spin over the past week.
The Rapids face Durham after a six-wicket defeat to Leicestershire Foxes on Sunday, lying seventh in the North Group with two wins from their opening six.
Words from Matthew Potts
(On his maiden T20 five-for) That was pretty special. Coming back into the Durham team, trying to get a few wins for the boys, it’s nice to do well and contribute to that. I love coming back and playing for Durham. It’s lovely being back with the boys.
We came off and I said what happened there wouldn’t have happened had Zak (Foulkes) and Callum Parkinson not bowled three overs each in the powerplay and gone about it so clinically. Credit to them, they set it up nicely.
We’ve still got room for improvement. It’s exciting that we haven’t yet shown our best with either bat or ball or in our fielding.
Going out there and playing a captain’s knock, Leesy was nerveless. It wasn’t easy. It was still moving about for them as well. He got the job done.
We’ll be looking to go out and win two more games and put us in good stead going into the four-day games and then hopefully pick up where we left off.
Squad v Worcestershire Rapids (18 June)
Colin Ackermann, Kasey Aldridge, Graham Clark, Zak Foulkes, Emilio Gay, Alex Lees*, Jimmy Neesham, Callum Parkinson, Matthew Potts, Ben Raine, Will Rhodes, Ollie Robinson+, Nathan Sowter
Opposition Corner
Captain: Brett D’Oliveira
Overseas players: Ben Dwarshuis (Australia, full competition), Jacob Duffy (New Zealand, first eight matches)
Finals Day appearances: Two (2018, 2019)
Titles: One (2018)
2024 finish: Eighth (North Group)
2024 leading run-scorer: Ethan Brookes (321)
2024 leading wicket-taker: Tom Taylor (17)
Key winter moves: The Rapids have strengthened their bowling with overseas duo Jacob Duffy, who is available for eight games, and Ben Dwarshuis while Ben Allison has signed permanently from Essex. Dwarshuis is a tried and tested T20 all-rounder, Duffy should hit the ground running after four impressive Rothesay County Championship games while Allison will be available this season to add further depth to a handy attack. Two-time Blast winner Josh Cobb left after a one-year white-ball contract.
The big question: Can they win the close ones? T20 cricket is about fine margins and the Rapids learned that the hard way last season. Their campaign was put on the skids by four successive losses by 11 runs or less – after impressive early wins against Lancashire and Notts – and they lost a further three games in the last over when defending. Bringing in veteran Dwarshuis to pick up the tough overs and supply some late hitting seems a clever piece of business with that in mind.
Wildcard watch: Ethan Brookes. The 24-year-old showed his all-round quality in the Blast last season to be the Rapids’ leading runscorer while also chipping in with 11 wickets. His power hitting was on full display in the Rothesay County Championship at Essex earlier this season when he smacked a quickfire 88 to almost haul his side over the line against the odds.
Final thought: There’s clearly room for the Rapids to improve on last season if they can win the close ones and better a home record that saw them win just twice at Visit Worcestershire New Road. Their attack looks strong with Tom Taylor and Matt Waite sharing 54 wickets to start the red-ball season and Allison taking 21. Add in the international class of Dwarshuis and Duffy and there’s reason to be optimistic so long as the batters can put up better numbers than last term when only Brookes past 300 runs.
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 Worcestershire’s YouTube channel. Durham Cricket will have full coverage on social media, with a full match report at the close.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com.