McKinney is set to open the innings alongside Alex Lees when Durham start their opening County Championship game at Nottinghamshire tomorrow, having made his breakthrough into the senior ranks last season.
The 20-year-old Wearsider burst to prominence over the winter when he scored a century in Australia for the England Lions, with his aggressive, hard-hitting approach sure to have brought him to the attention of England’s senior head coach Brendan McCullum ahead of this winter’s senior Ashes tour down under.
Campbell regards McKinney as an England international in waiting, and while he does not want to pile too much pressure onto the youngster’s shoulders, he is ready to hand him an increased level of responsibility with Durham this season.
“He’s six foot eight, and he hits balls that other people can’t hit,” said Durham’s head coach. “That is his natural talent, being the size of him. He can take a game away from you before you know it in the blink of an eye.
“That is what the England selectors love about him. For us, we just need to make sure he is not sitting next to me all the time watching cricket and instead, he is out in the middle making as many runs as he can.
“The tempo of what we want to go at, he will set the tone. Bowling attacks are not sure what (he is) going to do. As a natural guy, he can hit boundaries when others can’t.
“People are talking about Ben being a possible Test match player for the Ashes. Well, if he wants to achieve that, then he has to do really well for us first. It’s about keeping his feet firmly on the ground, but we know what a talent he is.”
McKinney is one of a number of youngsters who should become increasingly regular presences in the Durham line-up this season.
Daniel Hogg, a 20-year-old pace bowler, and James Minto, a 17-year-old left armer, got their first tastes of senior action towards the end of last season and should have improved with a winter’s worth of training under their belt, while Luke Robinson, a 21-year-old medium-fast bowler, is another exciting young talent.
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The trio’s Championship involvement this season might be somewhat limited, especially at first, but there is every chance they will see plenty of white-ball action, with Campbell hoping Durham’s youngsters can help inspire a major leap forward in the shorter formats.
“When I look at the other really good white-ball teams around the country, their youngsters have gone and adapted very quickly,” he said. “We are a bit behind on that because we are so red-ball orientated.
“How does McKinney go in white ball? We might see him in a different role this year because I have plans for him. Our youngsters, Luke Robinson and James Minto, how do they adapt?
“We have never played Daniel Hogg in T20. These are the young kids who will be the difference between us being just okay and outstanding. It is how fast they learn the game, that is the exciting bit. I will always live or die by it – I will give youngsters as many opportunities as I can because that improvement will make us a great club.”
Last season was Durham’s first back in the First Division of the County Championship after winning promotion, and they finished in a creditable fifth position.
The aim this season is to improve on that, and while Surrey will start the campaign as strong favourites to defend their top-flight crown, it would not take much to nudge Durham from a promising mid-table side to genuine title contenders.
“I thought our batting stood up beautifully to the First Division last year,” said Campbell. “I thought we were as exciting as ever, in fact, I thought there were times when we could have gone even harder, which is saying something.
“I’ll say until the cows come home – to win games of cricket, you need time to take 20 wickets, and that’s what our batters need to give us. How we’re going to take those 20 wickets is going to be important. Do we use more spin this year? Do we use more youngsters at times? That’s where we’re going to have to step up because our wicket here is going to be a good wicket for batting.
“We’re not going to shy away from that – we’re going to try to score fast, and then we’re going to create opportunities. What I did take out of last year is that we dropped too many catches, we missed some run-outs and things like that, and they’re the little opportunities that, if we want to be a great team, we have to take.”
