DURHAM seconds are in action at Leek today and will include an 18-year-old left-arm spinner they recently plucked from the Staffordshire club.
George Harding is in the team for a Twenty20 match against Derbyshire, fresh from taking five for 11 in the Academy's comfortable win against Blaydon on Saturday.
Based in Nantwich, Harding was recommended to Durham by Cheshire Under 17s coach Karl Bamford and after making his second team debut in the recent T20 match against an NYSD League X1 he has been offered a place in the academy.
He has played for Staffordshire after switching to Leek from Crewe, where he was in the first team at 13.
The search for a spinner is a high priority for Durham, although they have not enjoyed great success in developing one.
Off-spinner Ryan Buckley has shown some promising signs recently, taking three for ten then hitting the last ball for six to clinch a two-wicket win against the Unicorns at Burnopfield last week.
That was in the second of two T20 matches after the first was tied. Phil Mustard (61) and Calum MacLeod (42) shared a stand of 87 in the second game and both will feature today.
Durham seconds move on to Belper to start a three-day match against Derbyshire tomorrow, when Graham Clark will take over the reins from MacLeod.
Mustard will remain with the squad, but if he plays he will have to leave early for the first team's T20 match at home to Lancashire on Thursday evening.
Stuart Poynter and Gavin Main will rejoin the squad tomorrow after playing for Ireland and Scotland.
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