Durham head to the seaside tonight when they take on Lancashire Lightning at Blackpool Cricket Club’s Stanley Park, in the Vitality Blast.
Durham how face an uphill task to reach the Quarter Finals and with still only 3 wins so far this year’s campaign progression into the final 8 looks slim.
An unchanged 14 player squad has been named to travel to Lancashire for Durham’s next T20 encounter which gets underway at 5:30pm.
Lancashire are flying at the top of the North Group with 15 points with only two defeats so far this term, one of them coming against Durham at Seat Unique Riverside; whereas Durham are in second bottom spot with 6 points from 10 games.
Brydon Carse remains unavailable due to England’s series against the Netherland only finishing on Wednesday, while David Bedingham is out with a shoulder injury sustained against Worcestershire in the County Championship.
Squad v Lancashire Lightning
Scott Borthwick, Jonathan Bushnell, Graham Clark, Paul Coughlin, George Drissell, Ned Eckersley, Michael Jones, Stanley Mcalindon, Ben Raine, Ollie Robinson +, Nathan Sowter, Liam Trevaskis, Ashton Turner*, Andrew Tye.
Words from Andrew Tye
We just can’t seem to string a full game together at the moment. We need to find a way to perform with the bat and ball. I think there was a lot of room for improvement against Leicestershire Foxes on both sides of the ball. I thought we bowled well in patches, the rest of the team fielded well, but I let the team down in the field. We’re not far away, but if we want to play in the quarter-finals we have to be better than that. I said at the half-way stage I thought it was a below-par score. They probably bowled a lot better than we did. We didn’t have anyone that went in and got set and adapted to the pitch. It’s probably been our downfall even when we have had set batters in they’ve found ways to get out before the job is done. As a group we need to be better. Hopefully I can find a way to keep contributing and we can get a win. I would be quite happy enough to bowl four overs without getting a wicket if the team was winning, that’s more important than any personal stats.”
Lancashire Lightning
Pedigree: Lancashire have been relatively consistent in the T20 blast since its introduction 19 years ago with the side regularly making it out of the group stage but rarely going much further with six quarter final and five semi-final defeats. Their one triumph came in 2015 and with key man Jos Buttler potentially available for the group stage they will be looking for a similar outcome.
Dangerman: It would be extremely difficult to overlook Jos Buttler as the main threat in the Lancashire line-up despite the rise of Liam Livingstone and Saqib Mahmood in recent years. Buttler has proven his ability over several seasons and seems to keep improving as shown by his sensational form in the IPL this year having hit three centuries after 10 appearances in the competition. An in-form Buttler is a match-winner against any side.
Rising Star: 20-year-old Jack Morley could be one to watch this season following an impressive one-day cup campaign in 2021 where he picked up 9 wickets at 24.88 with an economy rate of just 4 runs per over. Preceding this he had an exciting first-class debut in September 2020 where he picked up 5 wickets in the match at 14.20. The next step for Morley would be to make an appearance on the T20 stage and being a left arm spinner, he is likely to have his uses, particularly if Parkinson is on England duty.
Last Visit: Liam Trevaskis produced late heroics to guide Durham to a final-over victory over Lancashire Lightning in their Vitality Blast clash at Seat Unique Riverside. The home side appeared to be on the verge of their fourth-straight defeat in their chase of 131 amid outstanding bowling from Richard Gleeson, despite knocks of 46 from Ned Eckersely and 36 from Michael Jones. However, with the pressure on Trevaskis, the skipper blasted 16 runs from seven balls to steer his side over line with vital late boundaries with three balls to spare. Lancashire had produced an under-par effort with the bat, mustering only 130 from their 20 overs, with the majority coming from Steven Croft’s innings of 55. Durham debutant Nathan Sowter and AJ Tye claimed three wickets apiece to limit the visitors, which proved to be crucial later in the day in delivering the win for the hosts and Lancashire’s first loss in the tournament this season.
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 Lancashire Cricket YouTube channel.
There will also be regular updates on Twitter, with a match report and post-match reaction on the website following the conclusion of the game.