Claydon needs to make the most of a Durham chance
DURHAM are to give Australian
Mitch Claydon the chance to
prove himself at Old Trafford in
his third season in county cricket.
The 25-year-old 6ft 4in paceman
is in a 12-man squad captained
by fellow Aussie Michael
Di Venuto for the championship
match against Lancashire starting
today.
Also included, in preference to
Gordon Muchall, is Garry Park
as Durham consider how best to
balance the team in the absence
of skipper Dale Benkenstein,
Neil McKenzie and Graham
Onions.
With Onions playing for England
Lions against New Zealand
and Liam Plunkett injured, Claydon
has been called up ahead of
the more experienced Callum
Thorpe as it his hoped his extra
pace will exploit the bounce usually
available at Old Trafford.
After suffering a stress fracture
of the back during his season
with Yorkshire two years
ago, followed by a repeat in midseason
last year, Claydon is in
danger of going down as one of
Durham's least successful signings
unless he seizes this opportunity.
At Yorkshire he took two for
171 in his two championship appearances,
while in his one
match for Durham at home to
Yorkshire last year he had match
figures of one for 139 in 28 overs.
Di Venuto has captaincy experience
with Tasmania and Derbyshire
and has been handed the
role to allow Paul Collingwood to
concentrate on finding form.
The England one-day captain's
three Friends Provident Trophy
innings in the last week have
brought a total of 27 runs, and he
suffered first and second ball dismissals
in his last two knocks.
With the crowded international
programme beginning with
the first Test against New
Zealand next week, this is likely
to be Collingwood's only championship
appearance of the season.
His experience will be vital in
the absence of Benkenstein, who
is attending the birth of his third
child, and McKenzie, who was
given permission prior to signing
to attend a family wedding.
With Collingwood and Ben
Harmison able to provide some
relief for the pacemen, either
Mark Davies or Neil Killeen
could stand down. Otherwise
Park will be left out and the tail
will again look too long against a
powerful attack.
Although Dominic Cork is not
yet fully fit, Lancashire will have
Glen Chapple and Sajid Mahmood
back to join Jimmy Anderson
and Andrew Flintoff, with
Gary Keedy providing the spin.
Although he is in a 13-man
squad, there is unlikely to be a
place for Steven Croft, the allrounder
who hit the final ball for
six to clinch victory when the
sides met in the FPT on Sunday.
Lancashire followed that up
with a two-run home defeat by
Scotland, when new signing Mohammad
Yousuf was out for a
duck.
Durham (from): M J Di Venuto (capt), M D
Stoneman, K J Coetzer, P D Collingwood, B W
Harmison, G T Park, P Mustard, P J Wiseman,
S J Harmison, M Claydon, N Killeen, M Davies.
12:23pm Wednesday 7th May 2008
Print 
Email this 
Comment
What are these links for?
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
More on Digg
More on del.icio.us
More on Furl
More on reddit
More on NowPublic/
More on Yahoo!
