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Metro Bank One Day Cup Preview: Durham v Somerset
THE MATCH
Somerset take on Durham at the South Northumberland CC, Gosforth in the Metro Bank One Day Cup tomorrow (Thursday August 17th).
Play is due to get underway at 11am.
Tickets for this match can be purchased below.
HOW CAN I KEEP UP TO DATE?
A live stream of the action will be available via our Official Match Centre.
You can also keep up to date using our dedicated matchday blog via this website’s Match Centre and on our Twitter feed.
THE OPPOSITION
DURHAM
Captain: Alex Lees
Overseas players: David Bedingham (South Africa), Migael Pretorius (South Africa)
2022 finish: Ninth (Group A)
2022 leading run scorer: Graham Clark (277)
2022 leading wicket taker: Chris Rushworth (12)
Key player: Alex Lees – The Durham white-ball skipper is in prime form with the bat in the LV= Insurance County Championship and will be determined to continue his form in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup. Lees scored two centuries and 562 runs in Durham’s run to the final in 2021, and his absence due to England duty last season loomed large over the North-East outfit’s fortunes. If he can maintain his red ball form, he could top score in the tournament this year.
Young player to watch: Ben McKinney – Durham have had a good history unearthing powerful left-handed batters named Ben; and McKinney will have the chance to prove his potential in the One-Day Cup. After starting the opening Championship game of the season, first-team opportunities have been hard to come by for the 19-year-old. But, the white-ball competition should suit his skill-set, offering a boundary-striker late in the order for Ryan Campbell’s men behind a potent batting line-up.
TEAM NEWS
Somerset will be without Lewis Goldsworthy (quad), Josh Davey (side), Jack Leach (back) and Alfie Ogborne (shin), whilst Curtis Campher’s spell at the Club has come to an end. Kasey Aldridge is included.
Young academy batting all-rounder Fin Hill has been added to Somerset’s squad for the remaining Metro Bank One Day Cup fixtures.
A starting XI will be picked from the following squad: Sean Dickson, Andy Umeed, George Thomas, Kasey Aldridge, James Rew, George Bartlett, Danny Lamb, Josh Thomas, Ned Leonard, Shoaib Bashir and JT Langridge, Jack Brooks, Fin Hill.
VIEW FROM THE DRESSING ROOM
Ahead of the game, Somerset Metro Bank One Day Cup Coach, Paul Tweddle said: “Everyone is desperate to finish the competition strongly. There is still belief within the group and they have our backing 100%. We know how important it is to put in a good performance after the disappointment of the game at Gloucestershire.
“Durham are a side that we don’t play against that often so it’ll be good experience for the players to come up with plans for players who we won’t have seen too often and execute those on the field.
“Obviously, the dimensions of the ground will be different and there’s quite a unique surface at the Riverside, so playing at an outground will change things a little bit, but we will be preparing as we always do and will be ready to adapt to the conditions that we find ourselves in.”
CLASSIC MATCH
For the classic List A match between the two sides we go back to the 50-over match that took place in Taunton in July 2014.
It was a match that Somerset won by five wickets thanks to centuries from James Hildreth and Lewis Gregory.
Durham won the toss and elected to bat first but slipped to 36 for three.
Paul Collingwood (113), Keaton Jennings (45) and Phil Mustard (40) got their side back on track, and the visitors finished on 311 for seven.
The Somerset reply got off to a poor start and the hosts were reduced to 21 for three before Colin Ingram (31) began the fight back. He eventually fell at 103 for four and that soon became 106 for five in the 23rd over.
However, Hildreth blasted his way to 146 not out from 134 balls and Gregory scored an unbeaten 105 from just 71 as Somerset recovered brilliantly to reach their target with 20 balls to spare.
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW
You can find out everything that you need to know about attending the game via the Official Durham Website.
NEXT MATCH
Somerset’s next match is on Sunday August 20th when we welcome Glamorgan to the Cooper Associates County Ground in the Metro Bank One Day Cup.
This match is our annual Family Day.
Throughout the day there will be children’s entertainment for Members and ticket holders within our safe and secure new fan village, which will be tailored to ensure that children and families have a brilliant day out!
Tickets for this match can be purchased below.
