Potts out to cement his place in Durham team and help win games

Matthew Potts is looking to establish himself as Durham’s go-to bowler in their LV= Insurance County Championship Division Two campaign after notching career-best figures against Leicestershire at the Riverside.

Potts claimed figures of six for 58 in Leicestershire’s first innings to bowl out the visitors for 273 after producing an inspired spell with the old ball. With opener Hassan Azad seemingly entrenched at the crease unbeaten on 66, Pottsboun de din with pace and bounce to dislodge Az ad before orchestrating a collapse of the middle order.

He then returned with the new ball to cleanup the Leicestershire innings, although frustratingly for the home side, they were unable to force a victory. Despite the failure to secure their first win of the campaign, Potts’ development in the red-ballgame is an excitingprospect for the North-East outfit in their bid to return to Division One.

The 23-year-old seamer initially burst onto the scene in 2017, but found life difficult to break into the four-day side until the back end of the 2021 campaign due to injury and competition for places. Now Potts has established himself in the first team, he is looking to ensure that he is a permanent fixture in the ranks.

“I’m always one of the first in the dressing room to raise their hand and say look skipper I’m going to run in and get you that wicket,” Potts said.

“All of the bowlers in our line-up are capable of that, and that is the beauty of our team. It just so happened that it fell on my shoulder sand I was able to carry out the role to my full potential.

"It meant to be a three-over burst with the old ball, but when you’ re having a good spell as a bowler you never want to come off.

“I believe that extra yard of pace has always been there, but I don’t think I had the fitness and capability to sustain that over a spell in the past.

"There are not many times that I would have been able to run in that hard, bowling with aggression and bumpers two years ago. I’m glad I’ve been able to find that extra yard for the team.

“There are long spells of bowling, but this is the epitome of cricket. I want to be efficient and prolific in red ball cricket. I want to cement my place in the team and help Durham win games of cricket.”

Today, Potts and Durham face Nottinghamshire in their LV= Insurance County Championship Division Two match at the Riverside.