Durham Cricket Lead High Performance Coach James Franklin has named a 14-player squad for Durham’s opening Vitality Blast fixture of the season against Leicestershire Foxes at the Upton Steel County Ground.
Ashton Turner will lead Durham out for the first time tonight, when Durham get underway at 6:30pm, which is the start of a busy weekend of T20 cricket followed by away games against Northamptonshire Steelbacks (Friday) and Birmingham Bears (Sunday).
Ollie Robinson is set to make his T20 debut following his loan move from Kent while Michael Jones could make his first white ball appearance for the club having predominately featured in the County Championship side for Durham.
Jonathan Bushnell, Oliver Gibson and Stanley Mcalindon are all included ahead of tonight’s game.
Bushnell is a top order batting-all-rounder who during the winter signed his first rookie deal with Durham having progressed through the pathway system in Durham.
Stanley Mcalindon is also named in the 1st team squad for the first time, the current Academy player is a fast-bowling all-rounder who has been a regular in the Durham Seconds over the last two summers.
Squad v Leicestershire Foxes (26 May)
David Bedingham, Scott Borthwick, Jonathan Bushnell, Brydon Carse, Graham Clark, Paul Coughlin, Ned Eckersley, Oliver Gibson, Michael Jones, Stanley Mcalindon, Ben Raine, Ollie Robinson +, Liam Trevaskis, Ashton Turner *
Leicestershire Foxes
Pedigree: Leicester have the richest history of all counties in the competition having been held the crown on three occasions. However, when taken into consideration that their last victory came in 2011 and they have only made it to the quarter finals twice since.
Dangerman: Naveen Ul-Haq should be seen as a major threat in this season’s Vitality Blast campaign. The Afghanistan international bowler is on the back of a very successful 2021 season which saw him pick up 26 wickets at an average of 17.57 as well as having impressed on the Sri Lankan T20 league over the winter.
Rising Star: Rehan Ahmed is a player with a bright future ahead of him despite his limited experience with Leicestershire. Ahmed showed character with some spectacular performances over the winter with England Under 19s consistently picking up wickets in their youth ODI fixtures. At just 17 Ahmed has plenty of time ahead of him but may be able to seize on an opportunity this summer.
Last Visit: Leicester’s last visit to Chester le Street was a very frustrating one for the home side as Durham’s early promising form continued to fall away with the weather playing a part in this encounter. Durham were put into bat and struggled early doors at 25 for three from the opening four overs with Bedingham, Stokes and Bancroft all falling cheaply with both of the latter falling to Ul-Haq (2-14). Clark’s (40) exit at 70 for four left Durham in a precarious position just after halfway, although Dickson (35*) and Eckersley led the recovery to 115 for 4, the Durham innings was halted due to rain after 15.1 overs. DLS set the Leicester target at 88 from 9 overs and powerful hitting from Inglis (35*) and Ackermann (36*) helped achieve the target with four balls to spare as the Durham bowling attack struggled to contain them with only Stokes picking up a wicket.
Match Coverage
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 the Durham match centre and Leicestershire YouTube channel.
There will also be regular updates on Twitter, with a match report and post-match reaction on the website following the conclusion of the game.