Durham head coach Jon Lewis believes Mark Wood’s return is a big lift to the changing room ahead of his expected appearance at The 3aaa County Ground tomorrow.
The 28-year-old returned home from the IPL in a bid to impress the national selectors ahead of England’s Test series against Pakistan starting later this month.
His arrival comes at a perfect time or Durham, fresh off their first win in the Specsavers County Championship Division Two. Wood is expected to be thrown straight into the action against Derbyshire alongside Matt Dixon as injuries to seamers Chris Rushworth and Barry McCarthy have seen the duo ruled out of the contest.
Lewis said: “Woody’s been back with us for a practice session. He looks good and is always a good character to have around the dressing room. It’s good to see him, he’s always got a smile on his face and he’s looking to put a good performance in for us.
“He has been practising hard in the IPL, but only 11 can feature in the games. They have a lot of cricket and practice to keep themselves busy. He’s been doing a fair bit, there’s a lack of match practice obviously. That’s why he’s here with the Test match in mind and this is his opportunity to get some.”
Durham have the challenge of building on their miraculous win over Leicestershire at Emirates Riverside, taking 10 wickets in the final session to secure a 46-run victory.
James Weighell led the way with an inspired performance of 7-32 to rip through the Foxes’ batting line-up. Durham got back into the game with a fine effort with the bat, which saw Aiden Markram, Cameron Steel, Will Smith and Graham Clark all register half-centuries in the match.
Although Lewis was delighted with the result, he has insisted that there is still plenty of room for improvement from his team.
He added: “It obviously was a boost after a pretty exceptional day. It feels like our season had started, which it hadn’t up until that point. It felt as though we were struggling to get into gear and any kind of win would give the guys a lift, but a win of that calibre even more so.
“We had to win the game in 30 overs because we didn’t have a bowling change to make after that. It was up to those guys out there with the ball in their hand. There was not a lot out there to back it up so it had to be done quickly.
“It was a building block. There was some good first steps from some of the batsmen. It was nothing more than first steps. We need to keep that going and pick it up a little bit. It was encouraging to see an improvement in their form, but again it’s only first steps at this stage.”