Durham T20 Match Preview - 26/05/2022

Match Sponsor: 

A huge thanks to our match sponsor - Adam Suffolk Flat Roofing LTD.

Last Time We Met:

The Running Foxes ran out winners in their last meeting with Durham in the T20 Blast, in a rain-affected match at Chester-le-Street in July last year.

Before the rain started, our bowling attack performed well, restricting Durham to 115-4 from their 15.1 overs, with Callum Parkinson (1-23 from four overs), Naveen-ul-Haq (2-14) and Gavin Griffiths (1-8) being the pick of our bowlers.  Graham Clark (40, 33b) and Sean Dickson (35 not out, 29b), provided resistance for our opposition.

Duckworth-Lewis-Stern provided us with a shortened run chase, needing 88 in nine overs.  Several early wickets leaving us 32-2 after four overs gave Durham hope, but superb innings from Josh Inglis (35 not out, 17b) and skipper Colin Ackermann (36 not out, 21b) saw us home with relative ease with four balls to spare.

Head to Head: Callum Parkinson v Liam Trevaskis

The start of the new Blast season gives Callum Parkinson a further opportunity to increase his lead as the premier wicket-taker in Leicestershire’s T20 history.  He also has another opportunity to create more history, looking to take 10+ wickets for the sixth consecutive season which would be an incredible achievement.

Across the last three seasons in the Blast, Parky has taken wickets at a cost of 23.5 runs per wicket, and providing great economy at 7.29.  Taking a wicket every 19.4 balls shows a real wicket-taking threat, and he’s a valuable operator in both the Powerplay and the middle overs.

Fellow left-arm spinner Trevaskis also operates in those phases for Durham, and has a very marginal edge on economy (7.27) which isn’t particularly surprising given the dimensions of his home ground at Chester-le-Street.  Parkinson, though, has a big edge on average and balls per wicket (Trevaskis is 27.1 and 22.4 for these metrics in the last three seasons), with both players having almost identical dot ball percentages just below 37%.

With both left-arm spinners being the lynchpin for their teams spin attacks, whoever wins the battle between Parkinson and Trevaskis will go a long way to deciding who will win this opening match of the T20 Blast season.

Squad: Ackermann *, Ahmed, Davis, Griffiths, Hill +, Kimber, Lilley, Mike, Naveen, Parkinson, Patel, Rutherford, Steel, Walker.