Matthew Potts could make his first-class debut tomorrow against Kent in the Specsavers County Championship (11am start).
The 18-year travels to Canterbury as part of a 14-man squad aiming to record Durham’s first Championship success of the season.
Potts has featured heavily for the Second XI & is the Academy’s leading taker in the North East Premier League this season with 15 wickets.
The all-rounder also impressed in last year’s England Development Programme Super 4s Competition, scooping the Man of the Match prize in the final.
Chris Rushworth joins Potts in the squad after missing the final-over defeat to Northants with a sore back, though Graham Onions & James Weighell remain on the sidelines.
Rushworth is likely to partner Paul Coughlin with the new ball after the all-rounder’s career-best showing this week, taking his maiden ten-wicket match haul after five-fors in both innings.
Jack Burnham continued his comeback from a broken thumb with 52* for Northumberland against Staffordshire in a rain-affected game this week, while Usman Arshad also struck an unbeaten half-century for Sunderland in the North East Premier League at the weekend.
Durham return to the St Lawrence ground at Canterbury, the scene of their maiden Championship title win back in 2008, and have won the last four first-class matches against Kent there.
But the hosts lost only one of their last 13 home matches & have added Pakistan leg-spinner Yasir Shah to their squad.
Squad vs Kent (8-11 June): Paul Collingwood (c), Keaton Jennings, Stephen Cook, Cameron Steel, Graham Clark, Michael Richardson, Ryan Pringle, Paul Coughlin, Stuart Poynter (wk), Barry McCarthy, Matthew Potts, Gavin Main, Chris Rushworth, George Harding