Durham Cricket Lead High Performance Coach James Franklin has named a 13 player squad for this week’s LV=Insurance County Championship match against Middlesex at Lord’s.
Durham head to Lord’s on the back of a 58 run win over Glamorgan and now sit in 4th place in the Division 2 table, 14 points behind Middlesex who occupy the top spot in the Division.
Sean Dickson is the only change to the 14 player squad named to face Glamorgan last week – having picked up a hamstring injury against Glamorgan on Saturday and is therefore not available for selection.
With England getting their summer underway on June 2 against New Zealand – Ben Stokes is set to make his final appearance for Durham in this block of County Championship fixtures.
Squad v Middlesex (18-21 May)
David Bedingham, Scott Borthwick (c), Brydon Carse,Ned Eckersley +, Michael Jones, Alex Lees, Liam Trevaskis, Keegan Petersen, Matthew Potts, Ben Raine, Chris Rushworth, Matt Salisbury, Ben Stokes
Words from James Franklin
It was a really good performance from the lads last week against Glamorgan, at times we didn’t play our best cricket throughout the game but ultimately to have a performance like that on the last day and force the win our way was outstanding from the lads. It shows huge credit to the lads for fighting right till the end and literally playing the game in front of them.
Potts has been outstanding and as we’ve all seen he has been talked about in the media throughout the season, it certainly wouldn’t be a bad thing if he does end up getting a call up for England and would fully deserve it from my point of view. He has been far the stand out bowler in the County Championship this season so far in both Divisions and statistics speak for them selves – sustained with his accuracy and pace, I have to say it is as good pace bowling as I have seen consistently over a period of time.
Middlesex have been playing good Championship cricket in this part of the summer, they will be tough opponents and we will being expecting a tough test against them. It was great to get off the mark on Sunday so we just have to continue that this week by having a good 4 days of cricket. Lord’s is a special place to go and play cricket and we need to recognise that as a group but not be overrode by the occasion.
We had a good game at Lord’s last time we played there in my first season at Durham so hopefully we can some of that into the game this week and see where we get off to after the first couple of days.
Middlesex
Coach: Richard Johnson
Captain: Peter Handscomb
Last year’s performance: 2nd (Division 3)
2021 leading run scorer: Sam Robson (1047, 40.26)
2021 leading wicket taker: Tim Murtagh (58, 18.60)
Overseas players: Shaheen Afridi (Pakistan), Peter Handscomb (Austrailian)
Key player: Sam Robson – Since 2008, Sam has been a prolific batman for Middlesex. Scoring over 11,000 runs in first class cricket and at 32 years old there still juice in the tank. He is Middlesex leading run scorer in the County Championship this summer with 318 runs averaging 63 with 2 centuries to his name. The right-hander has also been tipped to make his England test return following his debut against Sri Lanka in 2014.
Under the radar: Martin Anderson – who rounded off Middlesex’s Bob Willis Trophy campaign with successive four-wicket hauls in 2020, he continued to mature into a genuine all-rounder in 2021. Looking to cement his name in the first-class game. He has claimed 10 wickets in the County Championship so far this campaign.
Young potential: Still only 24-year-old Max Holden has started the summer off on good terms with 311 runs in the County Championship. With a highest score of 83 he is averaging 51.83 striking at 58.57.
Match Coverage
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 the Durham match centre and Middlesex YouTube channel.
There will also be regular updates on Twitter, with a match report on the website following the conclusion of each day.
There will be no BBC Newcastle commentary on the Middlesex live stream – this can be found via the BBC Sport website or via BBC Newcastle on the radio.