Durham are looking to get their Vitality Blast campaign back on track when they host Birmingham Bears on Wednesday night at 6:30pm.
The home side have suffered a mixed start to their T20 Blast campaign with two wins from 6 games and will be looking to pick up a third win against Birmingham.
An unchanged 14 has been named ahead of tonight’s game at Seat Unique Riverside in what is the first of two T20s on Wednesday and Friday.
Durham continue to suffer from injuries with Sean Dickson (hamstring) and Ashton Turner (shoulder) still not available for selection while Mark Wood continues his rehabilitation with the Durham Cricket medial team and is not yet available for selection.
Birmingham Bears, Durham’s opponents on Wednesday have 4 wins from 6 this summer and are second in the North Group. Paul Stirling their leading run scorer with 200 runs, while Jake Lintott is their top wicket taker with 13 scalps.
Squad v Birmingham Bears
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 Liam Trevaskis
“We were not far off against Northamptonshire Steelbackls, but we were probably a couple of runs short with the bat, but not loads. We just didn’t come home with the bacon. We chose to bat first because it was a used wicket, it was the third time it has been used since Wednesday. It started to hold a bit more, and we thought we could get a score on the board and then apply pressure. The other night we scored 180 and that would have been an excellent score on this wicket. Unfortunately, the catch went down in the penultimate over, no one means to drop them, it happens in cricket. We’ve got two home games next week; we’ve got to come out and put in good performances and try to get on a roll in this competition.”
Birmingham Bears
PEDIGREE: The Bears will be hoping for a season similar to 2014, where they took the Vitality Blast trophy back to Edgbaston. 2017 saw Birmingham reach their third finals day in four years, however lost out in the final to the Nottingham Outlaws. The Bears will be at least looking to replicate last year and reach the quarter finals or even better add another T20 trophy to their cabinet.
DANGERMAN – Jake Lintott is definitely someone to keep an eye on in the Bears’ side. The 28-year-old produced some stunning displays in last year’s competition including career best T20 figures of 4/20 against Northamptonshire Steelbacks, with an economy rate of just over 6. His T20 success for Birmingham saw him picked up in the Hundred and a Caribbean Premier League deal for Barbados Royals.
RISING STAR: 20-year-old all-rounder Dan Mousley is a real talent and Academy graduate from the Warwickshire ranks. A former England Under 19 cricketer he performed outstanding for the national side during England’s series against West Indies. He can bat and bowl off spin, and with a T20 best of 58* not out, he is a real talent for the future.
LAST VISIT: Ben Stokes made his T20 return as Durham won by 22-runs at the Riverside. Stokes scored 29, notched one wicket and claimed two catches, although Cameron Bancroft’s unbeaten 76 was the foundation of Durham’s triumph in their total of 185. Brydon Carse recorded career-best figures of three for 30 to limit Birmingham to 163 for eight.
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.