Durham head coach Jon Lewis was pleased to cover Durham’s overseas spot until mid-August – and hopes to quickly secure another name through to the end of the season.
The Club this morning confirmed the signing of South African opener Aiden Markram for the first four Specsavers County Championship matches, followed by the return of New Zealand batsman Tom Latham.
Latham has been announced as the Royal London One-Day Cup captain but his stay also covers the Vitality Blast group stages & Specsavers County Championship, with the option to extend into the Blast knockout stages should the Jets progress. A captain for Blast 2018 is yet to be announced.
Really excited to have the opportunity to join @DurhamCricket for the start of their season! Thanks guys! https://t.co/93SKUsfFs3
— Aiden Markram (@AidzMarkram) February 26, 2018
Speaking this afternoon (Monday 26 February), Lewis was pleased to have Markram’s signature over the line & stressed the important of getting off to a strong start during his four-game stay.
“Everything he’s done on the international scene has been impressive, whether it be scoring big runs in his first Test match through to captaining the ODI side last month,” Lewis said.
“He’s had an impressive start to his international career, particularly in the last series against India. All three pitches were pretty spicy and pretty good pitches to bowl on and he got 95 in the second Test, which I thought was his best Test innings so far.
“It’s important for us to start the season well. Again we don’t play in the first round of games, which isn’t ideal, but we do get those four Championship games before the RL50, so we can get into a bit of rhythm before the one-day format kicks in,” Lewis said.
Markram captained South Africa under-19s to World Cup success and was named as their One-Day International captain this month after just two matches in the format, underlining his leadership potential.
Former Durham players Ottis Gibson & Dale Benkenstein are members of the South Africa coaching staff & Lewis was grateful to their insight after first receiving a glowing reference from ex-overseas players Stephen Cook last season.
“Cooky spoke a lot about the young lad coming through in South Africa and said Aiden was going to be a player for the future. With Ottis being head coach with Dale as his assistant at South Africa, it’s easy to get good feedback now,” he said.
“I’m confident that even though it’s a difficult time for any opener in England in April, it’ll be good experience for him and if he gets through the early new ball stage, he’ll cash in. He’s not a guy who will make pretty 30s or 40s, if he gets through the new ball I expect him to make match-winning contributions.”
After securing Latham’s return before he departed shortly before the end of the 2017 season, his dates have now been confirmed & he will take a period of rest after the Test series against England following a long international summer.
“Even though we start a little late in April, he needs to have a refresh. He’s taken on a different role in ODI cricket and he’s kept in ODIs as well, so he’s got a few more challenges with his international schedule than he had before.
“He’s going to take that break and it just makes sense that we kept the break until the start of the RL50; it gives Aiden a proper period to play, rather than drop in for one or two games, and Tom a good starting point as captain.”
The left-hander proved a popular member of the dressing room on his return to Emirates Riverside last season after spending time in the Club’s Academy setup in previous years.
Captaincy has come at international level in the absence of regular skipper Kane Williamson & Latham now has the opportunity to hone his leadership skills in county cricket – an opportunity Lewis thinks will benefit the side.
“Tom’s benefitted from playing a lot of international cricket from early on and New Zealand see him as a leader on the field and in the dressing room. We lost Keaton so we needed to appoint another 50-over captain.
“Paul [Collingwood] is obviously brilliant but we need to get guys used to different ideas. It’s great to have different voices for younger players, they can see other ways of doing things.
“It’s a good challenge for Tom as well. He’s done a little bit of captaincy for New Zealand and he has leadership roles in their dressing room.”
With Markram & Latham having penned deals, Lewis is now turning his attention to other areas of the squad & did not rule out the possibility of a third overseas signing.
“We’re still looking at the option of a second player for the T20 competition and the period after that finishes, there’s a lot of Championship cricket to be played after that. Whether that be one player who could fulfil both of those roles or two different players, we’re in discussions with a few players at the moment and hopefully we can get something across the line in the next few weeks,” he said.
“We’ve got a few guys who are looking to trial, a few bowlers and maybe one or two batters, but the thing with a small squad is the ability to have a good look at trialists. We’ll be doing that through pre-season and into the start of the season.”