Durham Cricket Lead High Performance Coach James Franklin has named a 13-player squad for Sunday’s LV=Insurance County Championship fixture against Worcestershire at Seat Unique Riverside.
Five changes have been made from the last time Durham were in County Championship action against Middlesex at Lord’s with Brydon Carse, Alex Lees, Keegan Petersen, Matthew Potts and Ben Stokes.
Carse, Lees, Potts and Stokes are all on England duty while Keegan Petersen has returned back to South Africa for personal reasons.
New Zealand Test batter Rachin Ravindra comes into the squad for Sunday’s round of fixtures in replace of Keegan Petersen. The 22-year-old made his Test debut for the Black Caps in November against India and has played three games for this country since his maiden Test appearance in Kanpur.
20-year-old all-rounder Jonathan Bushnell is added to the County Championship squad for the first time and the right-hand batter could make his First-Class debut on Sunday. 18-year-old right arm seamer Stanley McAlindon is also named in the red ball squad for the first time having been included in all squads in the T20 Blast so far this summer.
Squad v Worcestershire (12-15 June)
David Bedingham, Scott Borthwick*, Jonathan Bushnell, Graham Clark, Paul Coughlin, Ned Eckersley, Michael Jones, Stanley McAlindon, Ben Raine, Rachin Ravindra, Chris Rushworth, Matt Salisbury, Liam Trevaskis
Words from James Franklin
Unfortunately, Keegan Petersen left Durham for a personal grievance and we wish him well. With New Zealand being over here to play England they brought an extended squad and with Keegan back home we had a space to fill – so we have brought in Rachin Ravindra, who is part of the New Zealand squad and was available to join us. Rachindra was actually on holiday in Dublin, he had only been there for a few days but he has jumped at the opportunity and is dead keen to get involved. He has got lovely qualities and is a top order batter for Wellington and played 3 Test matches already so he is really excited and we are excited to have him join us.
We are half way through the County Championship season and have 3 home games now in the next six weeks, we are no means out of it but we need to get going quickly. One win in seven is below where we need to be, we know that we need to start picking up some wins in these next 7 games. Particularly if we can put in a strong performance against Worcestershire this week and put us in a strong position going into the final day, we still have plenty of cricket left to play this summer.
Worcestershire
Coach: Alex Gidman
Captain: Brett D’Oliveira
Last year’s performance: 3rd (Division 3)
2021 leading run scorer: Jake Libby (1075, 56.57)
2021 leading wicket taker: Joe Leach (38, 30.02)
Overseas players: Azhar Ali (Pakistan)
Key player: Jake Libby – One of the country’s most in-form batters during the 2021 season, Libby led the way last season for the Pears with 1075 runs and was touted for an England call up during the winter. Having averaged almost 60 across the last two summers his move from Nottinghamshire to Worcestershire is proving a wise decision for the 29-year-old.
Under the radar: Ed Pollock – The 26-year-old returned to Worcestershire during the closed season from Warwickshire and has featured in Worcestershire’s first three County Championship games. Having only played in 5 First-class games while at Warwickshire the left hander started the season off in style with 112 against Leicestershire in the opening game of the season.
Young potential: Dillon Pennington – Having burst onto the scene in 2018, paceman Dillon Pennington has performed strongly since 2020 with 78 wickets following his debut against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge.
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 Durham Cricket YouTube channel.