Durham “want to be the best club in England” ahead of new domestic cricket season

Local TV Sport

Durham Cricket held a media day ahead of the new domestic cricket season, with Head Coach Ryan Campbell, and bowler Matthew Potts outlining the club’s ambitions. Daniel Wales reports.

Transcript

00:00As we move into the month of April a new domestic cricket season is on the horizon and for Durham

00:11that is a chance to build on the lessons of their first season back in division one of

00:15the county championship last year and challenge right at the top end of the table this year.

00:27Former head coach Ryan Campbell, Durham began life back in division one of the county championship

00:32with a fifth place finish at the end of 2024, very much in the middle of the table. The

00:38north east side picked up four wins along with four losses with five games being drawn

00:43and one abandoned with no play possible because of the rain. Certainly many would see it as

00:48a respectable season after eight years away in division two.

00:53Durham and England bowler Matthew Potts reflected on missed opportunities, however.

00:59Yeah I think on reflection if we look back at last year there was key moments in games

01:03that we perhaps weren't strong enough for long enough, weren't disciplined enough potentially

01:07and we kind of let drawing positions slip into losing positions and you know drawing

01:12positions away from winning positions so I think if we can just nail down our disciplines

01:18and stay stronger for longer I think there's a few games that if we turned them round we

01:22could have finished a little bit higher and you know maybe been in that title race but

01:26yeah I think everything builds up to this point and you know season starts anything

01:31can happen but it's about one game at a time mentality.

01:34Everyone says oh it was a really good season for us because you know it was our first year

01:39back but I actually looked at it as probably a season of missed opportunities and I'm great

01:44to hear that Matthew was thinking the same thing because on reflection we just didn't

01:49quite grab those moments which you know again you're still learning our team is quite young

01:56so what we bring this year is probably we know that our game when we play the way we

02:02want to play we'll stand up and take on the best in the business so yeah I'm hoping that

02:09we've learnt enough to go forward now and really just take the handbrake off.

02:16Away from red ball cricket in the county championship Ryan Campbell outlined his continued aim to

02:22see Durham be competitive in the two white ball competitions and go deep into both of

02:27the tournaments.

02:30I think that I've said this from the moment I walked in the door that I think white ball

02:34cricket has been a little bit sort of neglected up here in the northeast and red ball was

02:39our main priority but we just very simply want to be the best club in England and to

02:44do that you have to play all competitions. Last year was pleasing making a quarterfinal

02:50are we the complete finished product yet? No and that means our youngsters are still

02:55learning which is the exciting part. I think you'll see more of a role for some of those

03:00like the Ben McKinney's in our squad so I'm excited about that because like I say we have

03:07so much still to go in the white ball if we get it right we can take on any team in England.

03:13That mentality will be pleasing for Potts who was aware that his Durham performances

03:17could impact his England chances.

03:20Yeah I'm more than aware we've got a big international summer coming up with Zimbabwe, India and

03:25then the Ashes in the winter but it's about one game at a time, one day at a time. The

03:30game's quite fickle and it can bite you in the backside if you don't kind of have that

03:35approach and you get too focused and too fixated on where you want to be rather than what you

03:39are doing right now so just for me it's about putting in big performances and big shifts

03:44in for the team and see if I can get us in a good position. Every game when I put a Durham

03:47shirt on I'm trying my best to win the game and put the boys in a good position if that

03:52works favourably for me in terms of like my position then that's brilliant but ultimately

03:56they're trying to get the win across the line for the Durham boys and see where we are.

04:00For Campbell though he wants to highlight Durham's cricketing identity this year.

04:06I'm not a guy that really sets too many goals but what I want to see is the Durham brand.

04:11I want to see us fearless and take on every opportunity we get. I think everyone gets

04:17sick of me saying I hate draws, I'm not going to step back and let us go into our shell.

04:23We're going to come out swinging and hopefully if the guys play as well as they are we're

04:28going to win games of cricket and that's what we're here to do.

04:31There's lots to be excited about here at the Riverside this season. Durham have big

04:36ambitions but now they must deliver them.

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