Saturday 20 September 2014 10:32, UK
NatWest T20 Blast champions Warwickshire aim to complete a domestic double on Saturday as they face Durham in the Royal London One Day Cup final at Lord’s.
It has been a remarkable season for the Edgbaston side. They are on course to finish runners-up to Yorkshire in the LV= County Championship after lifting the T20 Blast title, albeit under the name Birmingham Bears, on home soil earlier in the summer.
Meanwhile, Saturday’s showpiece event at the Home of Cricket is a final chance of silverware for Durham, who are poised for a mid-table finish in the longer format after being crowned County Champions last term.
In days gone by the one-day climax of the domestic season was seen as the match which could swing the selectors' decisions over who would make a winter tour and one of the pivotal battles on show this weekend sees two England all-rounders go toe-to-toe.
Durham’s Ben Stokes lines up opposite Chris Woakes and the Warwickshire all-rounder is wary of the threat posed by his counterpart.
"Stokesy is a very good player and can affect the game with all three aspects - bat, ball and in the field - so we will have to try to keep him as quiet as possible," Woakes told the London Evening Standard.
"Of course Durham have lots of other players to be worried about as well but there is no doubt he is a big threat so hopefully I can 'out-pip' him with my performance on the day."
Warwickshire will be without England batsman Ian Bell after he was ruled out with a broken toe on Friday.
And Durham coach Jon Lewis heads into the capital showdown confident he has the most influential player in the country at his disposal.
Lewis will unleash Stokes, who smashed 164 to set up a semi-final victory over Nottinghamshire Outlaws, and Chris Rushworth, who plundered 15 wickets against Northamptonshire earlier this week, on Warwickshire.
However, Lewis believes 38-year-old Paul Collingwood could have a pivotal role to play as the three-time Ashes winner enjoys an Indian summer in his illustrious career.
"He is in great form, he is in really good form,” he said of the former England all-rounder. “All year, he has been playing well, but particularly in the last couple of months.
"In this competition, he has played particularly well - he is probably the most influential player in the country in the competition."
“I don't know if he is angling for a one-day international recall - I'm not sure that's quite in his thoughts, but he is playing as well as anybody else in England, so it's probably worth talking about."
Both sides just scraped their way through Group B, finishing level on nine points in third and fourth respectively.
Durham then saw off the threat of Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire to book their final berth, while Warwickshire produced successful run chases to beat Essex and Kent in the knockout stages.
When the side met in Group B earlier in the campaign it was Durham who prevailed by five wickets, despite a century from England stroke-maker Jonathan Trott.
Durham squad: Mark Stoneman (captain), Phil Mustard (wicketkeeper), Scott Borthwick, Ben Stokes, Paul Collingwood, Keaton Jennings, Gordon Muchall, Gareth Breese, Paul Coughlin, Chris Rushworth, Calum MacLeod, Ryan Pringle, Michael Richardson, Peter Chase
Warwickshire squad: Varun Chopra (captain), Tim Ambrose (wicketkeeper), Rikki Clarke, Freddie Coleman, Laurie Evans, Recordo Gordon, Oliver Hannon-Dalby, Ateeq Javid, Pete McKay (wicketkeeper), Jeetan Patel, William Porterfield, Boyd Rankin, Jonathan Trott, Chris Woakes
Watch Durham take on Warwickshire live on Sky Sports 2 on Saturday, with coverage from 10am.
