Latham relishing a new role with Riverside reins
KIWI ACE LEADS DURHAM AGAINST TYKES
TOM Latham is aiming for a “special” season at Durham as he prepares to lead the side in their opening Royal London One Day Cup match against Yorkshire at the Emirates Riverside today.
The New Zealander has arrived at the club for a three-month stint, replacing the outgoing Aiden Markram.
Latham will take the reins as the one-day skipper after Durham’s exodus of key young players left them short of leadership options for the shorter formats of the game.
The 26-year-old was with the club for a spell towards the end of the 2017 campaign, playing four Specsavers County Championship matches and five games in the T20 Blast.
Latham believes that experience will hold him in good stead as he looks to emulate the club’s triumph in the 50-over competition in 2014.
He said yesterday: “It’s exciting to be back to catch up with everyone. I enjoyed my time here last year.
“I was fortunate enough to get the opportunity to get to come back and play here for the next three months. It’s exciting to get underway tomorrow.
“I’ve been training a little bit back home and it wasn’t that long ago when I was playing, but it’s always nice if you start well. “The captaincy was something we talked about last year in terms of the make-up of the side. Jon [Lewis] asked me to do it and it was something I feel honoured to do. “I’m looking forward to the challenge. It’s a familiar group from last season so that makes it easier to fall into the role.” Latham is embracing his captaincy role, although he has admitted that the experience around him will be key going forward as Durham look to get off to a fast start in the competition after narrowly missing out on the quarterfinals last season. He added: “It’s nice to get a little bit of experience in another country and with a different group. “It’s going to be good for my experience as well and hopefully we can build something special over the next few weeks. I’ve captained New Zealand a couple of times when Kane [Williamson] has been away. It’s familiar to me, but it’s not something I’ve done a lot recently.
“It’s good to have players like Collingwood alongside you – someone who is very experienced and has played a lot of cricket internationally, so I’ll be leaning on him for advice in certain situations.
“We’re going to have play well to beat Yorkshire, and hopefully if we do everything in our plans we can give ourselves a good chance of winning.”
Durham coach Jon Lewis believes that the addition of Latham will be crucial and was delighted to see him return after his successful spell last term.
He said: “Tom’s impact last year was really big. We were very keen to get him back for whatever period we could.
“To get him back as captain gives him additional responsibilities, so it’s an exciting time for him.
“It’s good for us to get a new voice in the dressing room because we’ve had a bad habit of losing captains over the past few years.”
Durham will be without bowlers Chris Rushworth and Barry McCarthy for the contest, while England bowler Mark Wood is not expected to be available following his heavy workload against Derbyshire in the County Championship.
Yorkshire have England leg-spinner Adil Rashid available for the first time this season following his decision to concentrate on white-ball cricket, but are missing Gary Ballance for personal reasons. Steven Patterson takes over as captain.