Durham are straight back in Vitality Blast action tomorrow when they take on Northamptonshire Steelbacks at Wantage Road, starting at 2:30pm.
Ryan Campbell has named a 13 player squad which includes the addition of Ben McKinney – while George Drissell and Haydon Mustard drop out, as Durham look for their sixth win of the campaign.
McKinney joins the squad having been in action this week for the First Class Counties X against West Indies at Beckenham in Kent.
Friday night’s 22 run win over Worcestershire Rapids has moved Durham up to third in the North Group table, sitting level on points with Lancashire Lightning in second place, with 11 points.
The Steelbacks didn’t get any play on Friday night, as their Blast clash with Lancashire Lightning was abandoned without a ball bowled at Wantage Road – they sit in 5th place with with 1o points.
As the Blast group stage reaches it’s conclusion the North Group table hots up going into the final rounds of matches over the next 10 days.
Words from Michael Jones
“We’re absolutely buzzing with that win over Worcestershire Rapids. It’s a competition that we really want to do well in as we had a really good championship campaign last year and we wanted to bring that into the Blast this year.
“My role in the team has been pretty clear this year and I’m looking to come in at around the 14th or 15th over and hit sixes essentially. It’s a really fun, enjoyable role and if it comes off like tonight then hopefully we’ll get a few more wins.”
“It was a used wicket so we felt like the spinners would play a big part and we’ve got world class spinners, a couple of the best in the competition, so we were always gonna back them here. We don’t know what the par score was but we were definitely happy with 190.
“We said from the start of the competition that we are just taking it game by game, we haven’t sung the team song [Blaydon Races] yet when we win because we are wanting to save that for hopefully qualifying.
“We will go there on Sunday, another new game, different opponent, different ground, start from zero again and look to get the win on the board. We really want to have a strong campaign in this tournament, but it is a case of not getting too far ahead, we are in good form and hopefully it can continue.
Squad v Northamptonshire Steelbacks (7 July)
Colin Ackermann, Graham Clark, Paul Coughlin, Bas de Leede, Ben Dwarshuis, Michael Jones, Alex Lees*, Ben McKinney, Callum Parkinson,Ben Raine, Ollie Robinson+, Nathan Sowter, Ashton Turner
Opposition Corner
Captain: David Willey
Overseas players: Sikandar Raza (Zimbabwe, first eight games), Ashton Agar (Australia – last four games), Matthew Breetzke (South Africa)
Finals Day appearances: 4 (2009, 2013, 2015, 2016)
Titles: Two (2013, 2016)
2023 finish: Sixth (North Group)
2023 leading run-scorer: Chris Lynn (364)
2023 leading wicket-taker: Andrew Tye (19)
Key winter moves: Former England all-rounder Ravi Bopara joins the Steelbacks for the Blast, while ex-Derbyshire paceman George Scrimshaw will be hoping to impress the selectors after his ODI debut last summer. South African Matthew Breetzke arrives following blistering form in his country’s domestic T20 tournaments, alongside highly-experienced Zimbabwe T20 captain, all-rounder Sikandar Raza.
Wildcard watch: Ricardo Vasconcelos is fresh from two big Championship tons, the second scored at a white-ball rate in a run chase. Holding his own alongside Lynn at the top of the T20 batting order last year, Vasconcelos offers firepower and the ability to bat deep – and an extra wicketkeeping option.
Final thought: Without a County Championship win in seven games, Northamptonshire are looking to relaunch their season with a successful Blast campaign. Skipper David Willey has a wealth of experience around him in Bopara and Sikandar Raza (and Ashton Agar for the final four games) and this squad could mount a serious challenge for the knockout stage.
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 YouTube channel. Durham Cricket will have full coverage on social media, with a full match report at the close.