Jon Lewis is targeting a return to Division One of the Specsavers County Championship as his side’s preparations intensify with just over a month until the start of the 2018 season.
The annual pre-season friendly with Durham MCCU is just over four weeks’ away before the opening first-class match against Kent one week later.
Durham finished with three wins in last season’s competition, beating Glamorgan & doing the double over Derbyshire, but could have improved that record had a number of close encounters fallen their way.
As a winter of tough sessions comes towards a close, attentions begin to turn towards the pre-season fixture schedule, with back-to-back two-day matches at Cambridge University & Middlesex followed by another two-day friendly, against Yorkshire on 3/4 April at Emirates Riverside.
The pre-season programme finishes with the University fixture, by which time Lewis will aim to have his side in prime condition ahead of Kent’s visit a week later.
And he is targeting a strong start to a campaign in which he expects Durham to fight at the right end of the table, with the aim of returning to Division One.
“We always pride ourselves on being a Division One red ball side. It’s been hard for the dressing room, and for the Club as a whole, not to be a Division One side,” he said.
“It’s something we want to rectify as soon as possible. It’s certainly not something I think is easily achievable.
“With Middlesex and Warwickshire being in Division Two, as well as Sussex and other sides being strong as well, it’s not going to be easy and other sides have recruited a bit as well.
“We really want to get a good start. Those four games before the RL50 begins is a chance for us to do what we didn’t last year and pick up early wins.
“It’ll give us the confidence to go and challenge at the top come the end of the year.”