Head coach Jon Lewis has the services of Jamie Harrison to call upon for tomorrow’s Royal London One-Day Cup opener at Leicestershire.
The left-arm seamer is added to the squad for the 50-over match at the Fischer County Ground tomorrow, 11am start.
Harrison has been in good form for the Second XI in recent weeks and gives Lewis another option in the attack.
It marks the return of a format Durham have had success in over recent times, winning the competition as recently as 2014, and gives them chance to bounce back immediately after this afternoon’s disappointing Natwest T20 Blast defeat to the same opposition.
“I like the format of the game because it tests players in every aspect but it’s a long, hard day, played almost at the intensity of the T20s now,” Lewis said during the week.
“T20 has taken cricket in all formats forward in some ways and the one-day cricket has been influenced by the intensity and pace of T20. You’ve got to keep that up for 100 overs now and that’s quite tough for the players.
“Last year we kind of just about scraped out of the group stage and unfortunately at the quarter final stage it basically went to a T20 game because of the weather.
“In the rest of the competition last year, we only lost one full 50-over game, the rest were all reduced in overs and we didn’t adjust especially well to the shorter formats.”
Lewis is therefore pleased to have a youthful squad at his disposal to meet the demands of 50-over cricket, but also placed significant importance on the experienced heads within the squad.
“A bit of youth and mobility in the field is a plus but there’s a danger of the younger bodies not being quite as hardened to the day in, day out grind.
“For all that guys like Graham Onions and Paul Collingwood have got a few miles in their legs, they are hardened cricketers and if they have to turn out every day they will do it.
“It’s not just the physical grind, it’s the mental resilience that those guys have as well.”
Squad vs Leicestershire (5 June): Mark Stoneman (c), Phil Mustard (wk), Paul Collingwood, Graham Clark, Michael Richardson, Calum MacLeod, Ryan Pringle, Keaton Jennings, Scott Borthwick, Paul Coughlin, Usman Arshad, Chris Rushworth, Barry McCarthy, Jamie Harrison