Graham Clark insists Durham are determined to recover from back-to-back Royal London One-Day Cup defeats as they prepare to take on Gloucestershire for the first time in six years.
Mark Stoneman’s side have three more cup matches in Group A, with the top four going through to the knock-out stages of a trophy which Durham won last September in a thrilling encounter at Lord’s.
Clark top-scored with 42 in the loss to Yorkshire on Sunday, which was abandoned early with the visitors eventually winning by 32 runs via the D/L method. Although he was delighted to have made a significant contribution, Clark admits Durham need to get back to the winning habit at Bristol in order to make the quarter-finals.
Clark, 22, who signed his first Durham professional contract last week, said: “It was nice to help out with some runs, but you always want more.
“Yorkshire bowled very well and that left us around 20 runs short. If one person had gone on to make a big score we could have secured a match winning total and I blame myself for that. I should have gone on and helped to get a winning total. It was a very two-paced wicket and Yorkshire handled it better than we did. Glenn Maxwell showed his class and although we had a good LBW shout against him, sometimes you have to hold your hands up and say he did very well.”
Durham have been in better form on their travels in recent weeks and successive away victories at Northamptonshire and Somerset last month gave them an ideal foundation for the defence of their trophy. Only one point from three home matches means Stoneman’s side badly need a morale-boosting win at Bristol.
Cumbrian Clark, whose brother plays for Lancashire, said: “We don’t dwell on what has gone on before. We have to pick ourselves up and get a few victories under our belts to make sure we get in the draw for the last eight. This is a good chance to put things right. Three wins in a row in the competition will leave us in a really good place.”
After the trip to Gloucestershire, Durham travel to Leicestershire on Thursday before wrapping up their group matches with a home clash against Derbyshire on Monday, August 17.
Durham have not played Gloucestershire in a competitive fixture since a NatWest Pro 40 clash at Cheltenham in July 2009, over six years ago. On that occasion only Phil Mustard, of coach Jon Lewis’ current squad, played that day and Durham’s total of 206 proved enough, but only just, as they won by a single run.
Earlier that season, in May, Durham were thrashed by 148 runs in the 50-over game, losing in the Friends Provident Trophy at Bristol. It was a loss which was avenged a few weeks later in the same competition with Durham running out victors by four wickets at the Emirates Durham ICG.
Durham Squad vs Gloucestershire – Mark Stoneman(cpt), Paul Collingwood, Phil Mustard, Scott Borthwick, Graham Clark, Ryan Pringle, Gordon Muchall, John Hastings, Keaton Jennings, Usman Arshad, Chris Rushworth, Jamie Harrison, Calum MacLeod.