Durham Cricket Lead High Performance Coach James Franklin has named a 13 man squad for Durham’s Vitality Blast fixture against Northamptonshire Steelbacks at Wantage Road.
Durham face Northamptonshire this evening [Wednesday 30 June] on the back of a successful 34 run win over Birmingham Bears on Sunday to move Durham up to 3rd in the North Group table.
The Steelbacks who didn’t get off to the best of starts in the competition have picked up a third win since they beat Durham at Emirates Riverside last week, their most recent win coming last night, where they beat Leicestershire Foxes by 5 wickets at the Uptonsteel County Ground. They currently sit in 8th place with 7 Points from 10 games played.
With 5 games to go Durham are very much still in with a chance of qualifying and will be looking to cement their place in the top 4 with a win at Wantage Road tonight.
Liam Trevaskis is not available for selection having come in close contact with a positive covid-19 case, and therefore has to complete a period of self isolation.
Ally Evans has returned back home having been on loan with the Durham squad for the past 4 games from Cricket Scotland, his move back to his national side comes after the Durham players who were in self isolation can now return back to the playing group.
Stuart Poynter and Jack Campbell return to the squad and are named in tonight’s 14 player squad.
Squad vs Steelbacks (30 June)
Cameron Bancroft*, David Bedingham, Scott Borthwick, Harry Crawshaw, Jack Campbell, Graham Clark, Brydon Carse, Sean Dickson, Ned Eckersley, Matthew Potts, Stuart Poynter, Ben Raine, Ben Stokes
Opposition
Coach: David Ripley
Captain: Josh Cobb
Last Year’s Performance: Quarter-finalists
2020 Leading Runscorer: Paul Stirling (232 @ 25.77)
2020 Leading Wicket Taker: Ben Sanderson (12 @ 22.25)
Overseas players: Mohammad Nabi (Afghanistan), Wayne Parnell (South Africa)
Key man: Richard Levi – Without Paul Stirling at the top of the order, extra responsibility will fall on the broad, experienced shoulders of big-hitting Levi to lay strong foundations in the powerplay.
Flies under the radar: Graeme White – Along with his consistent spin bowling, White also contributes valuable runs – evidenced by a 12-ball 37 not out against Birmingham to seal the Steelbacks’ quarter-final place last year.
Best Player Under 24: Saif Zaib – Having nailed down a regular place in Northants’ T20 side last season, the all-rounder will be aiming to build on glimpses of promise with both bat and ball.
Blast expectations: Despite featuring in three finals between 2013 and 2016, Northamptonshire have struggled in the tournament since the last of those, their second Blast success. The Steelbacks peaked early in 2020, winning four of their first five group matches before losing four on the trot and eventually scraping into to the quarter-finals.
But, although Alex Wakely – who captained Northants to both of those Blast victories – has retired, there is still plenty of experience within the squad at Wantage Road. Wayne Parnell, a Blast winner with Worcestershire Rapids in 2018, brings further depth to a capable seam attack led by Ben Sanderson, while off-spinner Mohammad Nabi also looks an astute overseas signing.
Match Centre
The Club’s match centre will be in operation for the fixtures with live scorecards, statistics & video highlights as they happen. You can watch the game live via the Northampton YouTube channel.