Graham Clark returns to 14 player squad for penultimate home T20 against Birmingham Bears

With just 4 Vitality Blast T20 games left, Durham need wins if they are going to progress out of the North Group and into the quarter finals ahead of tonight’s clash with Birmingham Bears.

Following Durham’s DLS loss to Lancashire on Sunday afternoon, Campbell’s side now sit in 7^th place in the North group with 9 points and face a Bears side who are top of the table with 12 points from 9 games.

A 14 player squad has been named, which include the return of Graham Clark.

Clark has been suffering with an illness, which saw him miss day 4 against Glamorgan and our previous two T20 games, but he now returns to the match day squad for tonight.

Paul Coughlin suffered an injury on Friday night against the Falcons and drops out of the squad, while Bas de Leede has now joined up with the Netherlands team for the World Cup qualifiers in Zimbabwe.

Nathan Sowter claimed his 100^th T20 wicket on Sunday when he dismissed Jos Buttler and remains the second leading Blast wicket taker this term as he is 2 behind Somerset’s Ben Green who has 20 poles.

Words from Ryan Campbell 

“I thought we were bang on target [against Lancashire] for a really good run chase and Jones and Lees batted beautifully but you could see it was getting harder as the innings went on and the ball started to get older.

“When you get in that position you still hope you can bat well towards the end but the rain came and would we have got there? The numbers say it was probably 60/40 to Lancashire but it happened and the rain wins.

“Wells was excellent. He is obviously a very good batter and his form is going through the roof so he’s high on high confidence. When you’re defending a 190 score you only need one bowler to bowl well and that’s what he did. I’m not sure we could have played him too differently – hitting him for six is a tough thing to do and today was his day.

“It wasn’t to be and we go home disappointed and now we have a lot of hard work ahead for these last four games.”

Squad v Birmingham Bears [20th June]

Jonathan Bushnell, Brydon Carse, Graham Clark, Luke Doneathy, Brandon Glover, Michael Jones, Alex Lees, Wayne Parnell, Ben Raine, Luke Robinson, Ollie Robinson +, Nathan Sowter, Liam Trevaskis, Ashton Turner

Opposition Corner

Captain: Alex Davies

Overseas players: Glenn Maxwell (Australia) Hasan Ali (Pakistan

Finals Day appearances: 4 (2003, 2014, 2015, 2017)

Titles: 1 (2014)

2022 finish: Quarter-finals

2022 leading runscorer: Adam Hose (557)

2022 leading wicket taker: Jake Lintott (22)

Key winter moves: Three potential match-winners have been signed in Ali, Maxwell and Stirling and the Bears will hope they deliver in spectacular fashion when available. A key departure is last year’s leading runscorer Adam Hose who has joined Worcestershire Rapids but Pakistan seamer Hasan Ali will bring welcome nous to the seam attack.

The big question: Will the big-name recruits help to end the Bears’ fallow period in the Blast? After three Finals Day appearances in four years, the frustration which had dogged the team for most of Blast history has returned of late. Too often they have been hosts but not participants at the Edgbaston Finals Day jamboree.

Wildcard watch: Rob Yates – The 23-year-old first forged his reputation as a solid opening batsman in red ball cricket but has blossomed in the white ball game. He blends orthodox strokeplay with clouting the ball a long way and some strong early Blast knocks could well attract a Hundred gig.

Final thought: Entertainment was high from the Bears last year as they topped 200 in half their games with a go-for-broke batting policy. It often succeeded but was high-risk and imploded spectacularly on occasions – a ten-wicket group stage defeat to Yorkshire and a 104-run quarter-final thrashing by Hampshire. Will the vastly experienced signings allow for a more measured approach?

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