Derbyshire has named a 13-man squad for the visit of Durham to The 3aaa County Ground in the Specsavers County Championship, starting on Friday 11 May; 11am.
Gary Wilson will miss the fixture as he teams up with Ireland for the nation’s first ever Test match against Pakistan in Dublin, starting on Friday. Daryn Smit and Harvey Hosein come into the squad as wicketkeeping options.
Fast bowler Mark Footitt, who is on loan from Nottinghamshire, also misses out due to injury, but Tony Palladino returns to the matchday squad after recovering from a minor side strain.
Durham and England paceman Mark Wood is set to return for the visitors after traveling back from the IPL. The international quick has taken 132 wickets in 44 first-class matches at an average of 29.
Duanne Olivier is currently Derbyshire’s leading wicket-taker with 14 at an average of 26, with best figures of 4-26. Fellow South Africa quick, Hardus Viljoen, has claimed seven wickets, the same as leg spinner Matt Critchley.
With a fine knock of 144 at Warwickshire last time out, Wayne Madsen is currently the county’s leading run scorer on 247 runs, just five ahead of opener Ben Slater.
1. Billy Godleman
26. Ben Slater
10. Luis Reece
77. Wayne Madsen
18. Alex Hughes
20. Matt Critchley
11. Daryn Smit
16. Harvey Hosein
41. Ravi Rampaul
7. Hardus Viljoen
74. Duanne Olivier
28. Tony Palladino
44. Will Davis
Durham will be boosted by the return of England bowler Mark Wood for this week’s match, after he traveled back from the IPL to get in some red-ball cricket ahead of the international summer.
The visitors enter the match off the back of a dramatic win against Leicestershire, as James Weighell took 7-32 in 9.5 overs to help dismiss Leicestershire for 101 on the final day, having been set 148 to win.
Alongside Wood and Weighell, former Derbyshire bowler Nathan Rimmington provides further seam bowling option and Will Smith offers occasional off-spin.
South Africa international Aiden Markram opens the batting and brings with him a first-class average of 48 with ten centuries in 48 matches. Cameron Steel, Graham Clark and Paul Collingwood are likely to complete the top-order.
Durham Squad: To be announced
All-rounder Luis Reece hopes he can continue to make an impact with both bat and ball, as Derbyshire welcome Durham to The 3aaa County Ground.
The 27-year-old, has hit 195 runs in three matches and taken four wickets, as the county started the new campaign with one win, one draw and one defeat.
Reece highlighted the work he did over the winter to improve his bowling, and hopes he can play his part in a varied and highly-skilled Derbyshire attack.
“I put in a lot of work this winter on skills and control. It was a good winter in terms of trying to improve my action be a bit more skillful,” he said.
“I’ve hopefully put on a yard of pace as well from last year and when I am required then I can step in, put my hand up and get the odd wicket and give the big guys a rest.
“You want variation in in bowling attacks, you want people for all kinds of conditions, hopefully being left arm I offer a bit of diversity to the attack. It gives me a bit more, raises my stock, hopefully I can push to play as a fourth seamer and top-order bat.
“It makes me a more valuable player to the side which is what I want and to be able to contribute even more to Derbyshire.”
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