Worcestershire vs Durham, Royal London One-Day Cup, Today Match Prediction 24 Apr 2019

n/a vs dur Match Prediction & Analysis

Host Worcestershire will be looking to get back to winning ways when they take on Durham in the North Group game of Royal London One-Day Cup played in Worcester on Wednesday.

Going into this game, Worcestershire will be keen to look to make amends for the mistakes made in the previous game. In their last round-robin game, they suffered a 38-run defeat at the hands of Leicestershire.

On the other hand, Durham have got off to a flying start with back-to-back victories in the competition. The side is currently lying at the top of the league table with two wins in a row.  Captain Cameron Bancroft will be hoping that the side can maintain their winning streak in this game.

TEAMS PREVIEW

Worcestershire Preview

The side will be keen to put in an improved performance with bat and ball in their home fixture.  Brett Oliveira and co. will need to play exceptionally well in order to beat Durham in this contest.

For this game, Worcestershire will look towards their opening batsman Hamish Rutherford, who has accumulated 116 runs at an average of 58.00 with one century to his name. Rutherford perished for a low score against Leicestershire in the last round-robin game. Worcestershire will be hoping that the likes of Riki Wessels, Daryl Mitchell and Ross Whiteley to do the bulk of the scoring. The trio will need to deliver runs with the bat for Worcestershire in this contest.

Captain Brett Oliveira will be crucial for Worcestershire as he will need to produce big innings with the bat against Durham. He chipped in with a half-century in the previous game and added 89 runs with Ross Whiteley to bail the side out of trouble. He scored 57 off 59 balls with the help of four boundaries. Ross Whiteley was the standout performer for Worcestershire in the previous game. He smashed 131 runs off 83 balls with the help of fourteen fours and four sixes. He will be looking to continue his rich vein of form in this game.

In the bowling department, Worcestershire will be relying on the new-ball pair of Charlie Morris, Josh Tongue and Wayne Parnell to do the bulk of the scoring. Ed Barnard, Brett Oliveira and Daryl Mitchell are other prominent bowling option for the side for this game.

Worcestershire Predicted Playing XI:

Brett D’Oliviera (c), Daryl Mitchell, Josh Tongue, Charlie Morris, Riki Wessels, Ross Whiteley, Thomas Charles Fell, Ben Cox, Ed Barnard, Wayne Parnell, Hamish Rutherford.

Durham Preview

On the other hand, Durham is coming into this game on the back of a comprehensive win over Leicestershire in their previous game played on Friday. The league leaders will be keen to extend their lead in the points table when they face Worcestershire in this game.

In the batting department, Durham will be looking towards their in-form Captain Cameron Bancroft to deliver runs with the bat in this game. The opening batsman has scored 269 in 2 innings with two- centuries to his name. He scored an unbeaten century in the previous game played against Leicestershire. Bancroft smashed unbeaten 118 runs off 117 balls with the help of eleven fours and two sixes to help Durham register a comfortable win over Leicestershire.

Middle-order batsman Michael Richardson has produced crucial runs for Durham and has so far scored 141 runs at an average of 70.50 with one century to his name. He chipped in with 39 runs off 56 balls in the previous game played against Leicestershire. Richardson will be keen to continue his good form for the side in the next couple of matches. Scott Steel has done a decent job for Durham at the top of the innings in the two games played so far this season. He has accumulated 103 runs in 2 innings at an average of 51.50. He will be keen to produce a notable score against Worcestershire.

In the bowling department, the side will be relying on their new-ball pair of Matt Salisbury and Brydon Carse to provide crucial breakthroughs. The duo bowled well in the previous game and picked up four wickets between them. Medium-pacer Matty Potts also did an excellent job for the side and finished with three wickets to his name.

Weather Conditions

The wicket prepared for the game is expected to provide an exciting contest between bat and ball. The quick bowlers will certainly get something out of this surface. The weather forecast for the game on Wednesday is more than 50% chance of rain in the area.

Venue

New Road Stadium in Worcester will host all the home fixtures for Worcestershire in this year’s tournament. The side will be looking to do well in their home fixture and will take heart from the fact that they have beaten Durham at this venue in a game played in the 2017 Royal London One-Day Cup competition.

Toss: To Bat

The team that wins the toss would be keen to bat first on this surface and put a mammoth score on the board.  It might get trickier in the second half of the game as the ball might swing for the quick bowlers. Rain is expected to play a vital role in this game.