Ryan Campbell has named a squad of 14 for Durham’s second Group A fixture in the Metro Bank One Day Cup against Worcestershire Rapids.
Campbell’s side head to New Road looking for back-to-back wins in the One Day Cup and take on a Rapids side who also won their opening game of the tournament.
One change has been named from the squad which traveled to Cumbria as Ben Raine is rested in order to manage his work load and is replaced by Ollie Gibson.
The Rapids comprehensively beat Middlesex in round one with victory over the Seaxes by 183 runs. Worcestershire posted 371 before dismissing Middlesex for 188.
As Worcestershire were victorious in their opening round, Durham also secured an opening day win, beating Lancashire by 57 runs at Sedbergh School and sit second in the table on net run rate.
Worcestershire are at full strength in the One Day Cup losing just Adam Hose to the Hundred, with the top order batter representing the Northern Superchargers. The New Road side remain with a wealth of white ball experience at the top of the order, along with a number of young Academy graduates in their line-up and National Counties stars.
George Drissell is currently not available having sustained an ankle injury and is expected to return within two weeks, while Luke Robinson is around 6 weeks away having sustained a knee injury.
Michael Jones was called up to feature for the Northern Superchargers on Friday night for their Hundred game against Trent Rockets as a temporary replacement for their opening game, but has returned to the Durham squad ahead of the Worcestershire Rapids clash.
Squad v Worcestershire [28 July]
Colin Ackermann, Scott Borthwick, Jonathan Bushnell, Paul Coughlin, Bas de Leede, Ollie Gibson, Daniel Hogg, Michael Jones, Mitchell Killeen, Alex Lees, Stanley McAlindon, Ben McKinney, James Minto. Haydon Mustard+
Words from Ryan Campbell
It was a comfortable win in the end against Lancashire. We amassed a score that I was so positive about us defending. I’m pretty happy, to be honest.
There was a bit of nibble, and I thought they bowled nicely in the first powerplay. But the good thing was we didn’t panic. Lees and young Ben McKinney soaked it up and waited for the right time.
When we got to 80 without loss, we’re thinking, ‘Now we can kick on’. What came next was exactly how Durham want to play their one-day cricket.”
With some of your big name players away, the experienced players need to step up, but I do expect that our senior players will stand up when they need to but I also want our youngsters to take control of games, which hopefully will happen as well.
I thought in patches with the ball and in the field we were outstanding, we leaked boundaries off the first and last balls which was a bit of a concern, so that is something we will need to address, but we have to say quite a few of our players haven’t played 50 over cricket before, so they started to run out of puff and pick up some cramp but at the end of the day we got the job done and we walk away with a win under our belt and some good confidence.
There are a few sore bodies in the changing room, but I think that comes down to the rigours of 50 over cricket, so we will make sure they’re in good spirits.
We have a squad of 14, I would think we will make changes and give the bowlers some rotation. I am really excited that we perhaps debut a 16-year-old kid which would be pretty cool, Daniel Hogg is almost ready to go, so we have options in the bowling department but for the rest I would think it will be business as usual.
Worcestershire had a good win [in round one] so I look forward to what should be a really good game.
Opposition Corner
Captain: Jake Libby
Overseas players: Nathan Smith (New Zealand)
2023 finish: Quarter-finals
2023 leading run scorer: Jake Libby (397)
2023 leading wicket taker: Josh Baker (17)
Key player: Jake Libby will again take over the captaincy of the 50-over side from club captain, Brett D’Oliveira. His calming presence at the top of the order is essential as he demonstrated consistently last summer with four half-centuries, while he is also capable of upping the scoring rate when the need requires.
Keep an eye on: Harry Darley. A raw but promising pace bowler who impressed in a T20 match versus New Zealand at Visit Worcestershire New Road last summer. Injuries to bowlers such as Nathan Smith, Joe Leach, Adam Finch and Ben Gibbon are likely to provide more opportunities in the 50-over competition.
Final thought: Worcestershire’s forte looks to lie in their batting where there is plenty of strength in depth with only Adam Hose on duty at The Hundred. But a series of long term injuries in their seam attack may make it difficult to emulate last summer’s success in reaching the last eight.
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 Durham’s match centre and Worcestershire Cricket YouTube channel.