FORTY-NINE days on from victory over Northamptonshire Steelbacks, Durham return to Vitality Blast action tonight (6.30pm) when they host Hampshire Hawks in the club's first home quarter final since 2016.
Ryan Campbell has named a squad of 14 as Durham search for a place at Finals Day for the first time in nine years.
Durham go into the knockout stages with two overseas available as Jimmy Neesham returns after missing the latter stages of the group stage on international duty, while David Bedingham is also in line to feature.
Nathan Sowter is back in contention after a victorious campaign in The Hundred with Oval Invincibles whilst Matthew Potts, Ben McKinney, Callum Parkinson and Graham Clark also return from franchise duty.
Alex Lees topped the run charts for Durham in the group stage racking up 405 runs whilst Neesham claimed the most wickets for Durham with 20 poles.
Durham face a Hampshire side who finished third in the South Group boasting the likes of Chris Lynn, Hilton Cartwright, Liam Dawson and James Vince amongst their ranks.
"It’s been a long time coming that’s for sure," said Campbell.
"I think we all know that we’ve made a conscious effort to improve our T20 and white ball skills. Making the quarter final against Surrey last year was a starting point.
"As a collective group we wanted to bring a quarter final to the North East and share it with our people. The excitement has built steadily throughout the week and now it’s all about getting out there and having fun. We’ll be ready. Of course we will.
"It’s refreshing to have had some time to prepare players and to get them ready for the different formats. Just because you play 50 over cricket does not mean you are ready for T20 and vice versa. The preparation has been good and we’ve been able to take our time and not had to do everything in two days so the guys are prepared nicely.
"We’re all there, Jimmy Neesham is back from New Zealand and all the guys are back from The Hundred. Sammy Conners comes into the squad as probably a backup quick and George Drissell is there. And then it’s the usual faces who have done a good job for us so far.
"It’s so pleasing to hear that we’ve already sold over 7,000 tickets. Wherever I’ve gone over the last week or so, I’ve been stopped by people telling me how excited they are. I’ve made no secret that I’ve wanted to bring a quarter final to this Club ever since I’ve been here. I hope we put on a show and the 7,000+ in the crowd sit back and say ‘jeez what a good night we’ve had’. Hopefully we can win and go on to Finals Day."
Durham squad:
Colin Ackermann, David Bedingham, Graham Clark, Sam Conners, George Drissell, Alex Lees*, Ben McKinney, Jimmy Neesham, Callum Parkinson, Matthew Potts, Ben Raine, Will Rhodes, Ollie Robinson+, Nathan Sowter
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