Derbyshire Falcons Match Preview - 22/6/21
Tue 22 Jun 2021
The Running Foxes are looking to make it back-to-back victories in the Vitality Blast for the first time season, with a trip to Derbyshire’s Incora County Ground.
Leicestershire’s first victory of the campaign came away from home, at Northamptonshire’s County Ground as a supreme 103no (62b) from Josh Inglis saw the Foxes leave Steelbacks a chase of 201 for the win.
Our bowlers responded, with Callum Parkinson and Gavin Griffiths leading the way with the ball with figures of 4-0-19-2 and 4-0-23-2, respectively, helping the Foxes to a 34-run victory.
On the other hand, Derbyshire Falcons have two wins to their name in this year’s competition, with the first coming against the Foxes four rounds ago at the Uptonsteel County Ground.
Since then, Falcons have picked up two further points with a five wicket victory over Northamptonshire Steelbacks, but have most recently lost to the hands of Notts Outlaws (June 18) by 2 runs, and then to Yorkshire Vikings (June 20) by 39 runs.
Last Time We Met
The two teams met just over a week ago in the North Group of the Vitality Blast, with the Running Foxes falling to a 23-run defeat against the Derbyshire Falcons at the Uptonsteel County Ground.
Bowling first, we started well, reducing our visitors to 54-3 with Naveen-ul-Haq dismissing Harry Came and Billy Godleman, and when we got danger-man Luis Reece out, they were 90-4 after 61 balls. However, any thoughts that we had about running through the lower order were quickly dismissed by Matt Critchley (80, 45b) and Alex Hughes (38, 21b) who powered Derbyshire to 209-6 from their 20 overs. Naveen impressed for us with the ball, taking 3-26 from his four overs.
Under pressure to score quickly, we lost regular wickets in our reply, posting 186 all out from 19 overs. Most of our batters got starts but couldn’t convert to a big score - Rishi Patel (35, 19b) was our top-scorer with Logan Van Beek (3-37) the top wicket-taker for Derbyshire.
Head to Head
Naveen-ul-Haq v Logan Van Beek
Both overseas players took three wickets apiece in the meeting earlier this season, with Naveen (3-26) having the edge from an economy perspective.
In addition, both have been regular wicket-takers in the Vitality Blast this season, and actually top the wicket-taking charts so far in the competition with 11 wickets, a slender lead of one wicket over six players who have taken 10 wickets each. Van Beek (9.11 economy) has a slight edge in economy rate over Naveen (9.56) and this creates a fascinating dynamic with the duo looking to extend their wicket-taking lead over the chasing pack in the competition.
Interestingly, both players (50 dots each) also have the second-highest dot ball figure in the tournament so far, with only one player (51 dots) surpassing their efforts - Foxes' Callum Parkinson - who was superb in our win over Northamptonshire Steelbacks on Sunday afternoon.
Leicestershire Foxes Squad
Head Coach Paul Nixon keeps the same 14-man squad that earned victory in Northampton on Sunday (June 20).
Leicestershire Foxes from 14: Colin Ackermann (C), Ed Barnes, Will Davis, Gavin Griffiths, Lewis Hill, Josh Inglis (wk), Louis Kimber, Arron Lilley, Ben Mike, Naveen, Rishi Patel, Callum Parkinson, Scott Steel, Harry Swindells (wk)
