Durham Cricket Lead High Performance coach James Franklin has named a 13-man squad for Thursday’s LV Insurance County Championship match at home to Essex, with spectators returning for the first time in 611 days .
Durham return back to Emirates Riverside tomorrow after last week’s draw at Derbyshire in a rain affected match in the East Midlands, taking 12 points from the game.
Michael Jones and Matthew Potts return to the squad of 13 for Thursday, having both performed for the Seconds in recent weeks.
Ned Eckerlsey will take the gloves for the first time this season, replacing Stuart Poynter as wicketkeeper with Paul Coughlin also missing out having been named in the previous squads against Derbyshire and Worcestershire.
Mark Wood is no longer available for Durham and will join up with England this week ahead of their Test series against New Zealand, which gets underway early next month.
Durham go into the round seven of the County Championship in third place with 85 points, three points behind Essex who sit in second place and 12 points behind Nottinghamshire who occupy the top spot in Group 1.
Squad (27-30 May)
Cameron Bancroft, David Bedingham, Scott Borthwick (C), Jack Burnham, Brydon Carse, Ned Eckersley (wkt), Michael Jones, Alex Lees, Matthew Potts, Liam Trevaskis, Ben Raine, Chris Rushworth, Matt Salisbury
Words from the Head Coach
I think if you look at the group overall going into this round of fixtures, it is fairly tight, as is all three groups, and every game is very important.
We know we have 4 rounds to go in this group phase and this next match against Essex is a big game. We played a really good game against them last time out in the second round, which unfortunately we lost in the last couple of hours but overall our performances in that match were strong.
We know Essex are a strong team, they have shown that over the last few years, so we know we have to pitch up and play well from day 1 and work our way through there.
The Opposition
Coach: Anthony McGrath
Captain: Tom Westley
Last Year’s Performance: Winners
2021 Leading Runscorer: Tom Westley 501
2021 Leading Wicket Taker: Simon Harmer 34
Overseas players: Peter Siddle (Australia – full season), Simon Harmer (South Africa – full season)
Key man: Simon Harmer – Off-spinner, but no longer Kolpak, Harmer has bamboozled whatever has been placed in front of him during his first four years at Chelmsford. 250 competitive red-ball wickets for Essex and counting…
Flies under the radar: Adam Wheater – Finally seems to have fully emerged from James Foster’s shadow, with valuable contributions with bat – where he topped the club averages last year – and gloves in 2020.
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 the club’s match centre and clubs 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 each day.
Tickets
Tickets can be bought on the gate each day priced at £15 adults & £5 juniors.