Durham return to the Riverside for today’s Vitality Blast fixture at home to Northamptonshire Steelbacks which gets underway at 2:30pm.
An unchanged 14 player squad has been named from the squad which travelled to Leeds on Friday night with Liam Trevaskis leading Durham out once again as captain.
Durham go into the game on the back Friday’s high scoring loss to Yorkshire Vikings with the hosts chasing down 208 in comfortable fashion as Yorkshires left-handed opener Lyth broke the back of the chase with 10 fours and three sixes in 33 balls before England all-rounder Willey saw his side home by six wickets with 2.2 overs to spare, crashing eight fours and three sixes in 39.
Northamptonshire also come in today’s game on the back of a loss on Friday night theres a final ball thriller against Lancashire Lightning at Emirates Old Trafford. Durham are now 7th in the North group with 2 wins from 5 while Northamptonshire are in 4th spot with 5 points.
Squad v Northamptonshire Steelbacks (5 June)
David Bedingham, Scott Borthwick, Jonathan Bushnell, Brydon Carse, Graham Clark, Paul Coughlin, George Drissell, Ned Eckersley, Michael Jones, Stanley Mcalindon, Ben Raine, Ollie Robinson +, Liam Trevaskis*, Andrew Tye.
Words from Ollie Robinson
“It was a tough one (to lose). We played nicely and got a good score but not a brilliant score.
“Then, all their blokes played beautifully. Lythy got them off to a flyer, Finn Allen and Dave Willey as well. Sometimes you have to take your hats off to that. I got out at a poor time and Graham Clark as well potentially. I tried to keep going because of what we had behind us – we bat down to 10 or 11. But, in hindsight, I should have batted for longer, taken it deeper to give us a chance to go harder at the back end. Hopefully we learn from that and go again on Sunday (Northants, home).”
Northamptonshire Steelbacks
PEDIGREE: Northampton experienced a very successful period in the competition between 2013-2016, reaching 3 finals in 4 consecutive years. With two T20 blast trophies in their cabinet already, they will be looking to build on a disappointing 2021 season.
DANGERMAN: The hard-hitting batsman Chris Lynn brings an incredible wealth of T20 experience, playing 230 matches around the globe and is set to feature in the Vitality Blast for the first time this summer. Boasting an eye-watering record in T20 cricket, Lynn has scored more than 6,000 runs at an average above 30 and with an incredible strike rate of 140. With forty T20 half centuries and two centuries under his belt the Steelbacks have a real danger man in Chris Lynn.
RISING STAR: Left-arm wrist spinner Freddie Heldreich had a breakthrough year with Northamptonshire in 2021, taking eight wickets in his debut season and will be looking for more of the same this summer. Born in Ipswich in 2001, Heldreich is a young cricketer breaking through the ranks at Northamptonshire, particularly in white ball cricket. Freddie made huge strides forward in 2021, leading to his T20 debut for the Steelbacks.
LAST VISIT: Sean Dickson scored his maiden T20 Durham fifty, but Durham suffered a 9 wicket defeat. Adam Rossington and Ricardo Vasconcelos broke the Steelbacks’ highest opening stand to chase down Durham’s total of 158 with ease. Vasconcelos notched his highest T20 score of 78 to drive his side over the line, ending their winless run in the competition at the seventh time of asking.
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 Durham 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.