MATCH PREVIEW: Lancashire v Durham, Metro Bank One-Day Cup
Lancashire are aiming to make it third time lucky in this season’s One-Day Cup.
Lancashire v Durham
Metro Bank One-Day Cup, Group A
Wednesday July 24, 2024, 11am
Sedbergh School
In 2022, the Red Rose county missed out on silverware when they were beaten in the final by Kent at Trent Bridge. Last season, they were beaten quarter-finalists, ironically by Dale Benkenstein’s Gloucestershire.
Clearly, they have been there and thereabouts in this competition for the last couple of years. Now, though, Lancashire players and supporters will be desperate to take that last step and evoke memories of the Kings of One-Day Cricket era.
This format has long since been special to our county following the continued success through the eighties and nineties, and therefore silverware come late September would be cherished just as much as success in the Championship or the Blast would be.
This opening fixture is a clash between two former beaten finalists.
In 2021, Durham were beaten in the Trent Bridge showpiece by Glamorgan.
These are also two counties who, last week, secured qualification for the quarter-finals of the Vitality Blast by finishing inside the North Group’s top four places.
Lancashire prepared for this match with a friendly victory over Cumbria at Sedbergh on Sunday. Harry Singh stood out with 76 opening the batting and two wickets with his spinners.
Opposition:
Durham are missing six players because of the Hundred, that number including England Test captain Ben Stokes.
The 2021 finalists have missed out on knockout cricket in each of the last two seasons, but they are confident things will be different this season under the captaincy of opening batter Alex Lees. Ryan Campbell is their coach.
They will actually be missing their leading run-scorer and leading wicket-taker from last year’s event, David Bedingham and Liam Trevaskis. But not because of the Hundred.
Bedingham has been called up to South Africa’s Test squad for a tour of the West Indies, which starts next week, while Trevaskis has signed for Leicestershire.
They still have significant experience in the likes of Dutch international batter Colin Ackerman and seamer Ben Raine.
Top order batter Ben McKinney, who captained England Under 19s at the World Cup in South Africa over the winter, is likely to be amongst the youngsters who get a chance to shine.
Opposition player to watch:
Netherlands all-rounder Bas de Leede has 81 international appearances to his name across both white ball formats, including 43 in one-day matches.
The 24-year-old is in his second season of county cricket, and this will be his first full Metro Bank One-Day Cup having been in the Hundred with the Northern Superchargers last year. He only played once for Durham in this competition in 2023.
De Leede is a dynamic middle order batter (he batted at three in their National Counties win over Northumberland on Sunday) and bowls skilful medium pace.
He can be a match-winner with bat and ball.
De Leede has encouraged rather than stood out across the various competitions for Durham since joining them last year, with best of 103 and 4-76 coming in County Championship cricket.
With a handful of key players missing for the Hundred, now would be a good time for a seasoned international to really kick on.
He returned an eye-catching 3-27 from 10 overs in Durham’s friendly win over Northumberland on Sunday.
Previous meeting:
Durham beat Lancashire by 87 runs at Gosforth in the group stage of this competition in 2021.
Sean Dickson, now departed for pastures new, top-scored with a middle order 103 out off 76 balls in Durham’s 327-6, including two wickets for Jack Morley.
In reply, Josh Bohannon made 52 at the top of the order, while Rob Jones also made 65.
Unfortunately, however, Lancashire lost wickets all too regularly and fell to 240 all out, with seamer Luke Doneathy striking four times for the hosts, who went on to reach the final that season.
Like Dickson, Doneathy has since departed the Riverside.
What they said:
Dale Benkenstein is targeting a trophy for Lancashire in the forthcoming Metro Bank One-Day Cup, and he is backing the county’s youngsters to help them achieve it.
Coach Benkenstein, a semi-finalist with Gloucestershire last year, is relishing the prospect of mixing youth with experience over the next few weeks.
He knows the task won’t be easy, labelling Lancashire’s group as “strong”.
Derbyshire, Durham, Hampshire, Kent, Middlesex, Northamptonshire, Somerset and Worcestershire are also involved in Group A.
But the former South Africa international, who starts against his former county Durham, believes he has the tools at his disposal to go all the way to Trent Bridge on September 22.
“We have set out to try and win everything that we’re in,” he said.
“It’s not a very long competition, so you do have to start well. And looking at the teams we’re coming up against, there’s some really strong ones.
“The eight games we’ve got, there’s no easy games. We’re going to have to play well.”
The likes of Harry Singh, who starred against Cumbria, and current England Under 19s duo Charlie Barnard and Rocky Flintoff are amongst those youngsters who are set to get a chance to shine at some point over the next few weeks.
“I really do hope they get some opportunities,” added Benkenstein.
“It will be nice to see them win some games for Lancs. It just a nice four or five weeks. It has a nice feel about it this competition.”
How’s Stat!
On August 19 2007, Dale Benkenstein captained Durham to their first major trophy - a Friends Provident Trophy success over Hampshire at Lord’s - the game dribbling over to a second day following rain.
Benkenstein scored an unbeaten 61 in the final. Now he will be hoping to put a dent in his former county’s hopes of another 50-over success.