Pre-Match Pack: Durham

Derbyshire have named a 12-man squad for their home LV= County Championship fixture against Durham. 

Billy Godleman leads a side aiming to bounce back from a defeat to Essex, and they will be boosted by the return of Derbyshire Members to The Incora™ County Ground.

Brooke Guest top-scored in both innings at Chelmsford, and he will be looking to continue his good form batting up the order, while Matt Critchley passed 500 first-class runs for the season last time out, making him the sixth-highest run-scorer in the competition.

Alex Hughes, fresh off of scoring his 5,000th all-format run for for the club, joins Harvey Hosein and Fynn Hudson-Prentice in the squad, while Ben Aitchison returns, joining Sam Conners, Dustin Melton and Michael Cohen as pace bowling options.

Luis Reece requires a focussed period of knee rehab, and will miss the clash with Durham, while Billy Stanlake is also absent due to injury.

Derbyshire Squad: 

1. Billy Godleman (C)
76. Leus du Plooy
77. Wayne Madsen
20. Matt Critchley
18. Alex Hughes
16. Harvey Hosein
29. Brooke Guest
33. Fynn Hudson-Prentice
8. Michael Cohen
59. Sam Conners
11. Ben Aitchison
13. Dustin Melton

Bite-sized Stats

There have been 30 fixtures between these two counties, the first at Chesterfield in 1992 when rain reduced the game to a one-innings match played on the final day; even that game was rain-interrupted and ended in a rather soggy draw. To date, Derbyshire have won six matches, Durham 13, with 11 draws.

Derbyshire’s batsmen have made 16 hundreds against Durham, Michael Di Venuto leading the way with four, although the current squad have recent good memories with the bat against Durham – Matt Critchley, Alex Hughes and Luis Reece have all made hundreds against them, including Reece’s 122 at Chester-le-Street last August.

Click HERE to read the full stats preview.

Pre-Match Talk

Alex Hughes says Derbyshire’s returning Members will give the side even more motivation, as they prepare to face Durham at The Incora County Ground.

After suffering heavy defeats in each of their last two games, Derbyshire require a positive result against the high-flying visitors in order to stay in contention for a place above the bottom two.

Derbyshire Members will be in the ground for the first time since 2019, with their last visit coinciding with the last home win in Derby, a dominant performance against Sussex to close out the season.

The current squad are hoping to replicate that showing against Durham this week, and Hughes believes the return of supporters will give them a boost in their bid to bounce back.

“Hopefully we can put on a real show for the Members coming back,” he said.

“We haven’t been playing our best cricket, hopefully they will give us a bit of a buzz to turn that round. We’re facing a side in really good form, I thought they would be there or there abouts at the start of the season, and they’ve shown how good they are.

“It was quite an even game at Emirates Riverside, so we aren’t afraid of them by any means, we’re just buzzing to play in front of a crown again to be honest.

“We might not be the biggest club, but we’ve got a very loyal fanbase. It’ll be nice to catch up with some familiar faces.

“One of the best things about being a professional cricketer is to be able to interact with our fans, to make them happy and proud of us when we put that shirt on.”

How to follow

Derbyshire’s LV= County Championship fixture against Durham will be Live Streamed on the club website through our improved Match Centre.

With Live Streaming, in-play scorecards, ball by ball commentary, clips, statistics and so much more, you can put yourself at the heart of the action, even from the comfort of your own home!

Clips and updates will also be provides via our social media channels, so make sure you’re following us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, so you never miss a moment of the action.

Safety Regulations

No match tickets will be on sale for this fixture. Entry is exclusive to Derbyshire Members only. This is due to restricted capacities in relation to the latest government guidelines surrounding the safe re-opening of sports venues. Derbyshire Members do not need to pre-register for this fixture.

Full details on the matchday operation at The Incora County Ground can be found in our Matchday Guide.

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