Bears T20 Match Preview - 02/06/2022

When we last met:

The two teams met last season in the Vitality Blast at the Uptonsteel County Ground, with our opposition running out winners by 35 runs.

Running Foxes skipper Colin Ackermann won the toss and inserted Birmingham into bat, but they posted an impressive looking 190-7 from their 20 overs with rival skipper Will Rhodes (79, 40b) being the key batter for them.  Ben Mike (4-22) and Naveen-ul-Haq (2-20) were the standout bowlers for Leicestershire.

In reply, Leicestershire's start made it difficult to recover, losing three wickets inside the Powerplay and despite fighting efforts from Scott Steel, Rishi Patel and Lewis Hill, we could only reply with 155 all out.

Head to Head:

Callum Parkinson vs Danny Briggs:

The match could well focus on the battle of the left-arm orthodox spinners, with Parkinson fighting it out with Briggs to create the biggest impact for their teams.

This season, the experienced Briggs has the edge over Parkinson (five years his junior) with seven wickets to Parky's three, but over the last few years, it's very close between the duo.

From 2020 onwards in the Blast, Parkinson has taken 31 wickets at a cost of 23.3 runs per wicket and at an economy rate of 7.22 - hugely impressive numbers.  Briggs has taken 34 wickets at a cost of 20.2 runs per wicket at an economy rate of 6.76 - again, very impressive numbers.

With both players being standout spinners for their respective counties, this key battle will be vital to the upcoming clash.

Head Coach Paul Nixon names an unchanged 14-man travelling party.

Squad: Ackermann *, Ahmed, Davis, Griffiths, Hill +, Kimber, Lilley, Mike, Naveen, Parkinson, Patel, Rutherford, Steel, Walker.