BEN STOKES will make his first County Championship appearance for two years when Durham head to Blackpool tomorrow morning to take on Lancashire.

The England Test captain has been selected in a 14-man squad for the four-day game at Stanley Park.

Stokes opted out of the forthcoming T20 World Cup in the West Indies and United States in order to focus exclusively on the County Championship ahead of the start of summer Test series against the West Indies in mid-July.

The all-rounder was not considered for Durham’s opening five matches of the domestic season, but is expected to feature over the course of the next four days as his county side attempt to extend their unbeaten start in Division One.

“The decision will always be up to Ben Stokes,” said Durham head coach Ryan Campbell. “He has been through everything he needs to go through and we just needed to tick a few boxes with the ECB.

“For us, we always talk about playing against the best players in the competition, but to have one in your own team makes life a whole lot different. It will also lift the blokes. Some of them haven’t played with Ben for years, if at all.

“I’ve had to tell Clarky (Graham Clark) and Ollie Robinson that they might have to go down a spot but that is part of it. England cricket needs a fit Ben Stokes and what we see should be pretty impressive.”

Michael Jones drops out of the Durham squad to face Lancashire having been added to the Scotland T20 squad for their tri-series in the Netherlands. There is one more addition to the matchday group, with George Drissell included in the 14.

Durham head into the game in fifth place in the Division One table with 61 points from five matches. Lancashire have had a much shakier start to the summer, and are currently rooted to the foot of the table with 31 points.

Former Durham favourite Dale Benkenstein is in charge of Lancashire, having moved from Gloucestershire to replace Glen Chapple as head coach ahead of the start of the season.

The Red Rose pulled off one of the winter’s most eye-catching overseas signings, bringing in Australian off-spin legend Nathan Lyon, initially for a full season before Cricket Australia recently revised his availability to seven matches during the first half of the summer.