It will be Durham vs Northamptonshire, on June 23, in match 60 of Vitality Blast 2021 at Chester-le-Street. Durham are currently in 3rd place on the North Group points table, while Northants are six rungs below them at the bottom.
Contents
Match Predictions and Team Previews
Analysis
The sides last met in a Vitality Blast match in August 2019 at Northampton. Batting first in the game, the hosts lost early wickets to be reduced to 14 for 2. But a few mini partnerships later, they were relatively better placed at 118 for 4 at the start of the 18th over. They finished with 145/6, a competitive score on a wicket with assistance for bowlers. Alex Wakely top scored with 47 from 35 balls, while Dwaine Pretorius (37 from 24 balls) and Richard Levi (29 from 29) also contributed. For Durham, Matty Potts who took 3/31 was the most impressive bowler; Brydon Carse, D’Arcy Short, and Scott Steel took a wicket each.
Chasing a seemingly modest target, Durham were soon in trouble, losing 3 wickets for only 32 runs within the powerplay overs. A regular fall of wickets thereafter witnessed the visiting side finish with 124/8 in their allotted overs, rendering Northamptonshire the winners by 21 runs. Barring Peter Handscomb 965 from 54 balls), none of the other batsmen put up a fight. While Rob Keogh took 3/30 for Northants, Ben Sanderson and Faheem Ashraf grabbed 2 wickets each, and Graeme White took one.
In their completed matches so far, Durham have won four — versus Birmingham Bears, Lancashire, Leicestershire and Yorkshire — and lost just one, versus Nottinghamshire.
Northamptonshire have played five complete matches this season, versus Derbyshire, Birmingham Bears, Nottinghamshire, and Worcestershire, and lost all five.
Likely XIsp>Durham: David Bedingham, Graham Clark, Ben Raine, Cameron Bancroft, Sean Dickson, Ned Eckersley, Paul Coughlin, Brydon Carse, Liam Trevaskis, Scott Borthwick, Matty PottsNorthamptonshire: Richard Levi, Adam Rossington, Ricardo Vasconcelos, Wayne Parnell, Rob Keogh, Saif Zaib, M Nabi, Tom Taylor, Graeme White, Nathan Buck
Head-to-Head
>In the last 5 games between the sides, Durham have won 3, while Northants have won one, with one game having ended without result.
