Durham return to the West Midlands tomorrow when they take on Worcestershire in the third round of Vitality County Championship at Kidderminster Cricket Club.
Having been in the West Midlands just four days ago for Durham’s clash against Warwickshire, Ryan Campbell’s side will be looking to get their first win on the board this week when they travel to Chester Road.
Ryan Campbell has made two changes to the squad which travelled to Edgbaston with Scott Boland and Brydon Carse dropping out of the 13.
Daniel Hogg has been added to the 13-player squad and if selected tomorrow would make his first-class debut for Durham and his maiden senior appearance for the Club in professional cricket.
Scott Boland suffered a foot injury last week against Warwickshire and having had a scan, he is being assessed by the Durham Cricket medical team and Cricket Australia. A further update will follow on this in due course.
Brydon Carse is unavailable this week due to his match play management schedule.
Worcestershire have enjoyed a strong start to the 2024 County Championship season with two draws from their opening two games and sit in second with 27 points.
Words from Ryan Campbell
The result (against Warwickshire) was almost like a perfect storm, there was a lot of talk about the Kookaburra ball and one boundary was the shortest boundary in the world. It was quite a flat wicket, but we didn’t bowl well. I’m very proud of the way the players fought, it’s very easy after their first innings to fold and cave in and be beaten inside two or three days, so full credit to our batters for not allowing that to happen.
All through pre-season I’ve been joking with Matt Potts that Cal Parkinson would be ahead of him in the order and he would take over night watchman duties! He took it to heart and he was fantastic. It showed whether with bat or ball that he’s a phenomenal cricketer and he led the way for us on Day 4.
Having not had the game against Hampshire, the bowlers looked short of a gallop so to speak but I’m very confident they’ll bounce back. Our batting was fantastic, if we can score 500 every game we’d take that. We were far from perfect, we learnt a lot from it so hopefully we can go to Worcestershire with the Duke’s ball and we can get back on track.
Worcestershire have started really well, they came up with us last year and they’ve not looked out of their depth. We expect a really tough clash, and I know we’re going to have to be at our best to get a win.
Squad v Worcestershire (19-22 April)
Colin Ackerman, David Bedingham, Scott Borthwick*, Graham Clark, Paul Coughlin, Bas de Leede, Daniel Hogg, Michael Jones, Alex Lees (vc), Callum Parkinson, Matthew Potts, Ben Raine, Ollie Robinson+
Opposition Corner
Captain: Brett D’Oliveira
Head Coach: Alan Richardson
2023 finish: Second (Division Two)
2023 highest run-scorer: Jake Libby (1153)
2023 highest wicket-taker: Joe Leach (48)
Key winter moves: Rob Jones will strengthen the top order batting after his move from Lancashire on a three-year contract. All-rounder Tom Taylor from Northamptonshire will primarily add depth to the bowling department after penning a four-year move. New Zealand all-rounder Nathan Smith, leading wicket-tasker in the Plunket Shield, is available all summer for all formats.
Player most likely to Baz-Ball: Kashif Ali played several destructive innings last summer, most notably his 88 off 36 balls in a Metro Bank One-Day Cup match against Derbyshire, and the signing from the South Asian Cricket Academy is capable of more similar heroics in 2024.
Final thought: Asley Giles has brought a positivity to the club in his role as CEO and quickly earned the support and respect of players, coaches and members alike despite his long-standing Warwickshire connections. He is aware of the demanding task ahead in trying to finish above the bottom two but there is a belief that Worcestershire can at least compete in Division One.
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 Worcestershire YouTube channel. Durham Cricket will have full coverage on social media, with a full match report at the close.