Durham Cricket Lead High Performance Coach James Franklin has named a 13-man squad for Durham’s fourth Bob Willis Trophy fixture against Derbyshire at Emirates Riverside.
22-year-old, Scotland international, Michael Jones has been named in the squad for the first time this summer. Jones, batted excellently in Durham’s pre-season inter-squad fixture scoring a century along with an unbeaten 42 against Yorkshire at Headingley in Durham’s final warm up match ahead of the season start.
Jack Burnham is not available for selection for this fixture, having picked up an injury, while Cameron Steel is the only additional player to miss out on squad selection from the Leicestershire game.
Durham are looking for their first red-ball win of 2020 and will have another chance this week in their final Bob Willis Trophy fixture at Emirates Riverside, however Derbyshire have started this season well and are currently occupy the top spot, sitting on 57 points.
Squad vs Derbyshire (22-25 August)
Squad: Alex Lees, Sean Dickson, Michael Jones, David Bedingham, Gareth Harte, Stuart Poynter, Ned Eckersley (c,wk), Brydon Carse, Paul Coughlin, Ben Raine, Matthew Potts, Matthew Salisbury, Chris Rushworth
Words from the Head Coach.
“Derbyshire are playing pretty good cricket at the moment and having played them last year we know they are a good side, they are a good group of cricketers and have some good all rounders and performers.
“We go into the Derbyshire game still searching for our first win in the Bob Willis Trophy and we are coming against a very good Derbyshire side, but it is another opportunity for the group to put in a good performance and hopefully by the back end of the game we are in a good position to win our first game in the competition.
“Hopefully lighting does strike wise, we beat them last summer here at Emirates Riverside to kick off our season and broke our duck, which was a really good game, winning in the last hour to get our first win on the board.
“We have a good record against Derbyshire up here at Emirates Riverside, so hopefully we can hold that to our advantage, but ultimately it is what we do over the next four days and what we do tomorrow in the first session. We can’t look too far ahead into the game, but we need to perform well in the first hour, whether we bat or bowl and follow on as the game progresses.
“There are probably a few guys in the squad who would put their hands up to say they’re short in production of a run making point of view, what they can control is what is in front of them and hopefully we can see a production from the batters as a group over these next four days, and they can put scores out there that our bowlers can be comfortable in going out there to compete.
“You know that from a bowling point of view we are very good here at the Riverside, it just about getting enough runs on the board to keep us in the game to go on and win the game.”
Match Coverage
The Club’s match centre will be in operation for the fixture with live scorecards, statistics & video highlights as they happen.
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.