Benham and Thornely in Unicorns squad

Chris Benham, the former Hampshire batsman, and Michael Thornely, who was released by Sussex last season, are two of the new faces in a 29-man Unicorns squad to take part on the Clydesdale Bank 40 tournament during the English domestic season.

Benham and Thornely both found themselves without counties following the 2010 summer but have been given a chance to showcase their talent for the Unicorns which is made up of players without professional contracts. Ten players from last year's squad have been retained.

The likes of Benham will be hoping to have similar success to allrounder Wes Durston last summer when he performed well enough for the Unicorns to earn a full-time deal with Derbyshire

During their first season the team claimed three county scalps - Sussex, Glamorgan and Worcestershire - but still finished seventh in Group A. This year they have been drawn in Group C alongside Nottinghamshire, Glamorgan, Gloucestershire, Essex, Somerset and Lancashire.

Squad Jahid Ahmed, Chris Benham, Luke Blackaby, Chris Brown, James Campbell, Tom Craddock, Dan Davis, Paul Dixey, Ned Eckersley, Tom Friend, Alan Ison, Josh Knappett, Robin Lett, Jonathan Miles, James Ord, Sean Park, Keith Parsons, Chris Peploe, Joel Pope, Glen Querl, Luis Reece, Dominic Reed, Amar Rhashid, Neil Saker, Chris Thompson, Jackson Thompson, Michael Thornely, Dan Wheeldon, Adam Wilson