Nathan Lyon returns to 14-man squad to face Durham in Blackpool
Head Coach Dale Benkenstein has named a 14-man squad for this week’s Vitality County Championship fixture against Durham, which starts tomorrow in Blackpool.
Nathan Lyon makes his return to the matchday squad after he was rested for Trent Bridge - as per the terms of the Club's agreement with Cricket Australia - in place of Tom Hartley who has joined up with England's IT20 squad ahead of their series with Pakistan. Seam bowling all-rounder Tom Aspinwall has also been added to an otherwise unchanged squad.
Lancashire are also without the trio of Jos Buttler, Liam Livingstone and Phil Salt who all join Hartley on IT20 duty with England, while left-arm quick Luke Wood is still away at the Indian Premier League.
Speaking about the start to the season and looking ahead to Blackpool, Lancashire's Director of Cricket Performance, Mark Chilton, said: “We are really disappointed with the start to the season and there have clearly been periods in games where we haven’t played to our expected standards, however, I’ve witnessed first-hand how hard Dale and the squad are working. As a group, we’re unified and there is a real determination to put things right at Blackpool this week.
“The strength of our seam bowling resources has been impacted by longer than expected rehab programmes to our quicker bowlers and has required careful management of workloads to ensure the players welfare is at the forefront of the decision making. This has been expertly managed by our medical team, but it hasn’t been straightforward. Naturally, we were disappointed to see Nathan Lyon’s season with us reduced to seven Championship matches, just a couple of weeks before the start of the season, and we have also been impacted by late IPL call ups for Phil Salt and Luke Wood, both of whom were a key part of the strategic thinking for the first Championship block.
“Following the decisions taken on players at the end of the 2023 season, the squad was always entering a period of transition, and we are committed to giving opportunities to some incredibly exciting young players - who are going to be the future of the Club. Matty Hurst’s century last week at Trent Bridge was exceptional, while George Balderson and George Bell have also impressed at different stages of the season so far. The squad are hurting, but as a group, we’re driven to put in a better all-round performance and show fight and spirit for the red rose.
“I really would encourage our Members to get behind Dale, Keaton and the team in the coming weeks, be our 12th man and welcome the team onto the field, as we look to build a positive environment around the Club, starting tomorrow at Stanley Park.”
Lancashire Cricket squad to face Durham:
Keaton Jennings (c), Tom Aspinwall, Tom Bailey, George Balderson, George Bell, Jack Blatherwick, Josh Bohannon, Tom Bruce, Matthew Hurst, George Lavelle, Nathan Lyon, Saqib Mahmood, Luke Wells, Will Williams
How to follow:
The match will be broadcast live on LancsTV, with ball-by-ball radio commentary from Stanley Park in Blackpool provided by BBC Radio Lancashire's Scott Read on the BBC Sport website and app.
For those unable to follow the action live, there will be regular updates on the Club's social media channels and Match Centre, with highlights also posted on LancsTV following each day's play.
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