Durham are looking to stay top of the North Group in the Vitality Blast when they head to Trent Bridge to take on Notts Outlaws tomorrow night. [6:30pm]
Ryan Campbell has named a squad of 13 which sees Haydon Mustard and Zak Foulkes drop out of contention as Durham look to pick up four straight Blast wins for the first time since 2020.
Foulkes has been selected for New Zealand’s T20 tour of Zimbabwe which sees his Durham stint come to an end.
Durham are searching for an eighth win in the group stage and face sixth-placed Notts Outlaws who have won five of their opening 11 games.
Campbell’s side met the Outlaws last Friday, recording the Club’s highest T20 score of 231/5 in a 49-run win at Banks Homes Riverside.
Ahead of the final four group games, Alex Lees is Durham’s top run-scorer with 282 runs so far while Jimmy Neesham is top wicket-taker for Durham with 17 poles.
Words from Ryan Campbell
We’ve still got a long way to go to be perfect in the T20 sphere but I think everyone can see the improvements that we’ve made and the excitement that we’re bringing to our T20 cricket. It’s a good time to be a viewer I would’ve thought.
T20 cricket is not about your best players always doing the business, everyone has to chip in. They have to stand up in the big moments and we saw that against the Bears after losing a couple of early wickets.
There is real impetus with our batting at the minute, a real belief that we can make big scores. We’ve always been great scrappers and defenders but right now we’re putting on a pretty good offence which is what we want to do. It’s exciting but it’s important to not go too over the top about it.
Squad v Notts Outlaws (11 July)
Colin Ackermann, Kasey Aldridge, Graham Clark, Sam Conners, George Drissell, Alex Lees*, Ben McKinney, Jimmy Neesham, Callum Parkinson, Matthew Potts, Will Rhodes, Ollie Robinson+, Nathan Sowter
Opposition Corner
Captain: Joe Clarke
Overseas players: Daniel Sams (Australia, full competition), Moises Henriques (Australia, full competition)
Finals Day appearances: Six (2006, 2010, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020)
Titles: Two (2017, 2020)
2024 finish: Ninth (North Group)
2024 leading runscorer: Joe Clarke (306)
2024 leading wicket taker: Olly Stone (15)
Key winter moves: There will be no Alex Hales at Trent Bridge for the first time in 17 seasons after the county’s 36-year-old all-time record runscorer opted not to return. But an Outlaws side in transition will benefit from having two experienced Australian all-rounders as overseas players in 32-year-old former Essex and Trent Rockets star Daniel Sams and 38-year-old Sydney Sixers captain Moises Henriques.
The big question: The Outlaws’ decline in this format was put in sharp focus by last season’s bottom-of-the-table finish. Can their failings be corrected in 2025? Joe Clarke will have Henriques’s leadership skills to tap into in his second season as skipper but as well as the loss of Hales, last season’s leading wicket-taker Olly Stone will miss the tournament through injury.
Wildcard watch: Freddie McCann. The 20-year-old top-order batter, with three first-class centuries to his name already, made his Blast debut against Yorkshire in the final 2024 group match and had an immediate impact, hitting 44 from 32 balls in a rare Outlaws victory. If he gets the chance to build on that as Notts seek a winning blend he could well catch someone’s eye.
Final thought: Is there a touch of back to the future about the signing of Henriques? Notts fans will hope the dynamic all-rounder carries a little of what his close friend and Big Bash-winning ex-Sydney Sixers teammate Dan Christian brought to Trent Bridge when he led the Outlaws to Blast glory in 2017 and 2021.
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 the Nottinghamshire YouTube channel. Durham Cricket will have full coverage on social media, with a full match report at the close.