Lead High Performance Coach, James Franklin, has named his first 13-man squad of the season for Durham’s opening LV= Insurance County Championship match against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge.
The squad will be captained by Scott Borthwick for the first time since being appointed as the club’s new first-class captain.
Borthwick and the rest of the squad left Emirates Riverside this morning for a final training session at Trent Bridge, before the first-class season commences at 11am tomorrow.
Last year’s encounter ended in a draw at Trent Bridge, as the Bob Willis Trophy campaign came to a conclusion for both sides. A match in which Chris Rushworth claimed his 500th first-class wicket for Durham as he had Haseeb Hameed caught in the slips.
Alex Thomson is included in his first Durham squad after joining on loan from Warwickshire and could make his Durham debut tomorrow.
Sean Dickson misses out and is currently undergoing rehabilitation for a side strain, the club are hopeful he will return for the 2nd team next week at Essex. Will Young is currently in a period of quarantine having arrived in the UK from New Zealand’s IT20 series against Bangladesh.
Squad v Nottinghamshire (8-11 April)
Chris Rushworth, Brydon Carse, David Bedingham, Stuart Poynter+, Alex Lees, Ned Eckersley, Scott Borthwick*, Ben Raine, Jack Burnham, Alex Thomson, Paul Coughlin, Mike Jones, Matt Salisbury
The Opposition
Coach: Peter Moores
Captain: Steven Mullaney
Last Year’s Performance: Fourth (North Group)
2020 Leading Runscorer: Ben Duckett (394, 56.3)
2020 Leading Wicket Taker: Zak Chappell (15, 28.7)
Overseas players: Dane Paterson (South Africa)
Key man: Joe Clarke – Even with 17 first-class centuries to his name already – four for Nottinghamshire – the classy middle-order strokemaker can still improve and his form could be key to the county’s fortunes. He scored 133 against Durham at Trent Bridge last time out.
Flies under the radar: Haseeb Hameed – Fast-tracked into the Test side at 19 only for his form to disappear, the opener showed signs last season that a change of scene away from the spotlight is working for him.
Best Player Under 24: Liam Patterson-White – The truncated 2020 campaign brought frustration for the left-arm spinning all-rounder, who was unable to follow up a 20-wicket debut season in 2019 but is likely to have more opportunities this year.
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 club’s match centre.
There will also be regular updates on Twitter, with a match report and post-match reaction on the website following the conclusion of each day.
*A reminder this game is played behind closed doors.