Matthew Potts: "I am just going to run in and bowl hard"

The Durham seamer could make his Test debut against New Zealand on Thursday after being included in England's squad for the start of Brendon McCullum's tenure as head coach

Matthew Potts has vowed to "change nothing and see if that works" if he makes his Test debut at Lord's this week.

The Durham seamer has been rewarded for a fine start to a batter-friendly summer with a call-up to England's squad for the first Test against New Zealand.

It marks the start of a new era, with Ben Stokes – Potts' county teammate – the new captain and Brendon McCullum appointed as the new head coach of the Test team.

"There is a little difference in the intensity but I am honestly looking to change nothing about what's got me here," he said. "I am just going to run in and bowl hard, bowl my kind of areas and change nothing and see if that works."

Potts has picked up 35 wickets at 18.57 apiece so far this season in the LV= Insurance County Championship, and his selection comes at a time when several of England's fast-bowling options are missing to long-term injuries.

Potts has only ever played a single match at Lord's – in last summer's edition of The Hundred – and he was rested when Durham were beaten there a fortnight ago by Middlesex.

He has already claimed more wickets in the opening months of this campaign than in any other year of his young career.

"There has been a lot of background hard work," he explained of his progression. "The stuff people don't really see and a lot of work in the gym in order to be robust in order to play six matches on the bounce, which is what I did at the start of the season and maybe the reason I have picked up so many wickets.

^{Potts has been prolific for Durham so far this season (Gareth Copley/Getty Images)}

"I picked them up late in the day as well with the same intensity at the back end of the day – if not a bit quicker – than I was at the start – which is a good thing for me and it's injury-free. I have had my fair share of injuries in the past, but they are behind us."

He began his cricketing life at Philadelphia CC in Tyne and Wear – the first in his family to play the game after "they chucked me in to see what's what" – before working his way up through the age-group teams at Durham and into the county's academy, fabled for its production line of seamers.

While Potts isn't as quick as the likes of Mark Wood and Steve Harmison, he is no slouch and is considered a skilful operator.

"It is the same game – you run in a bowl with a red ball, you bowl at a batsman," he said, asked how he would cope with the pressure of a Lord's debut.

"I am not going to change anything about my game. We'll see how it reacts to the pressure, but I am just going to go in and do my thing if I get the nod.

"It would mean everything to make your debut at the home of cricket – it's a wonderful place – lots of nice coffee spots around here too. This wasn’t at all on the radar at the start of the year so it would be a great moment for me and the family.

"The family are going to come down on the odd chance I make my debut.  I am really looking forward to it and we'll see what the next couple of days holds."

Related Topics

• Jonny Bairstow is not an outrageous selection for Lord's Test
• New Zealand could start Test series without Trent Boult
• Harry Brook and Matthew Potts named in Ben Stokes' first Test squad