DURHAM youngster Matthew Potts is confident he will emerge from his side’s Royal London One-Day Cup campaign as a stronger player, despite enduring a difficult start to his limited-overs career.

Durham return to action tomorrow morning as they make their annual visit to South Northumberland CC in Gosforth for a One-Day Cup match against Worcestershire.

All three of the county’s previous visits to South North have ended in a victory, and Jon Lewis’ side could desperately do with another success tomorrow after losing their first three matches in this year’s 50-over competition.

Having been thrashed by Yorkshire and Lancashire, they narrowly came up short at Derby on Wednesday night, and will almost certainly have to win all five of their remaining group matches to have any chance of qualifying for the knock-out stage of the competition.

Having made his first-class debut last season, 19-year-old Potts returned to Durham’s first team for last week’s heavy defeat to Yorkshire, and while he was smashed around the park by Tom Kohler-Cadmore along with the rest of his team-mates, he ended with reasonable figures of three for 69.

The Sunderland-born seamer regards Durham’s ongoing struggles in the 50-over format as a valuable learning curve, and is determined to soak up the knowledge that will surround him in the South North dressing room tomorrow.

“As a bowler, everyone comes at you whether you’re bowling your stock ball or bowling in a shorter format,” said Potts. “In one-day cricket, there’s always a risk of taking tap. In one-day cricket, you have to come back because you’ve got overs to bowl for the team.

“It’s really good to have the experience around you in the dressing room, whether it’s to work on your action or receiving little pointers on the pitch. (Tom) Latham is in the dressing room now. He’s very good on the pitch having experienced a different brand of one-day cricket. They’re playing different types of opposition, so it’s nice to have their perspective to take on board and learn.”