Durham will be hoping they can finally get on the park ahead of their round two fixture against Warwickshire which starts tomorrow at Edgbaston in the Vitality County Championship.
Following a washout against Hampshire last week, Ryan Campbell has named a 14-player squad which includes new overseas signing Scott Boland.
Having touched down last week in the UK, Boland now comes into contention to make his Durham first-class debut, while Colin Ackermann and Callum Parkinson remain in line to make their debut for the Club in the County Championship tomorrow.
Warwickshire had to settle for a draw in their opening game against Worcestershire, after bad weather shunted a game which could have gone either way at Edgbaston, with the Bears taking 13 points from the fixture.
Words from Ryan Campbell
Scott Boland arriving makes it another difficult decision, we made some tough decisions going into the game against Hampshire and that will be the same against Warwickshire this week.
We’ve been sitting around trying to work out our rotations of our bowling stocks. The honest truth is every club would like to sit there and have the “he can’t play, but we can’t leave him out” conversations. We will pick the best four guys that we believe are best suited for Warwickshire, with also one thought on Worcestershire which comes pretty soon after.
We know that Warwickshire have an experienced bowling attack, but a bowling attack that can come under pressure from us if we bat well. I’m really looking forward to Warwickshire, I think it’s going to be a really good game of cricket against a team that’s done really well in Division One, and we’re ready to be tested.
Squad v Warwickshire (12-15 April)
Colin Ackerman, David Bedingham, Scott Boland, Scott Borthwick*, Brydon Carse, Graham Clark, Paul Coughlin, Bas de Leede, Michael Jones, Alex Lees (vc), Callum Parkinson, Matthew Potts, Ben Raine, Ollie Robinson+
Opposition Corner
Captain: Alex Davies
Head Coach: Mark Robinson
2023 finish: Fourth (Division One)
2023 highest run-scorer: Sam Hain (706)
2023 highest wicket-taker: Olly Hannon-Dalby (54)
Key winter moves: Alex Davies has replaced Will Rhodes as captain, the latter having stepped down after an impressive tenure which included leading the side to the Championship title in 2021. Pakistan paceman Hasan Ali returns until at least the end of July to rejoin a seam attack which will be without Henry Brookes who has moved to Middlesex.
The big question: Which direction will Warwickshire take after an erratic 2023 red-ball season which brought some brilliant days and some very poor ones? Rhodes’ departure as captain caused some disappointment among the fans who will be hoping that the focus of leadership helps Davies to improve a batting average of 27.15 for the Bears in first-class cricket.
Final thought: Warwickshire should have enough about them to stay out of relegation trouble. To challenge at the other end of the table they will need good fortune with injuries in the bowling department – 51% of their Championship wickets last season were taken by two men aged 34 and 37. They will also need considerably more match-shaping innings from their top order. Only Sam Hain and Rob Yates scored more than one Championship century for Warwickshire in 2023
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 Warwickshire YouTube channel. Durham Cricket will have full coverage on social media, with a full match report at the close.