Derbyshire Falcons Match Preview - 22/7/21

The Running Foxes begin their 2021 Royal London Cup campaign at the Uptonsteel County Ground, as Derbyshire Falcons make the short trip to Leicestershire.

Leicestershire head into the competition without Club captain, Colin Ackermann, and vice-captain, Callum Parkinson, as they are both fulfilling their duties in the inaugural The Hundred competition. Consequently, Lewis Hill will lead the Running Foxes, alongside the likes of Australian overseas batsman, Marcus Harris, and white-ball contracted Arron Lilley,

The visitors have recovered from their first-team wide period of self-isolation which caused them to abandon their final LV= County Championship group stage fixture against Essex CCC, and their remaining Vitality Blast fixtures Northamptonshire Steelbacks and Yorkshire Vikings.

Further, the Falcons come into the tie without the likes of Matt Critchley, Luis Reece and Leus du Plooy, all lost to The Hundred.

Last Time We Met

We have to go back over two years to find the last meeting of the two teams in the Royal London Cup, with Leicestershire hosting Derbyshire at the Uptonsteel County Ground on April 24, 2019.

Having been inserted by the visitors who won the toss, Leicestershire posted a solid-looking 312 for 8 from their 50 overs with Colin Ackermann (119, 112b) top-scoring. Some lower-order hitting from Arron Lilley (23, 12b), and Dieter Klein (24, 11b), also helped us to that decent total.

The weather subsequently intervened and Derbyshire’s target was reduced. Their 266 for 3 from 39 overs was enough to get over the line, with a century from Billy Godleman (106, 115b) and half-centuries from Wayne Madsen (60, 55b) and Leus du Plooy (73 not out, 52 balls). Ackermann, in a strong all-round performance, took our only wicket which wasn’t a run out.

However, more recently, the last meeting between the two teams was in this year’s Vitality Blast, with Leicestershire winning by 42 runs at the Incora County Ground, Derby. Man of the Match Louis Kimber (53, 28b) was a huge part of our 174-8 in our 20 overs, and it was a team effort with the ball, sharing nine wickets among five bowlers saw us dismiss our hosts for 132.

Head to Head

Lewis Hill v Billy Godleman

Lewis Hill will captain the Running Foxes during our Royal London Cup campaign and the Leicester-born man hit 121 to celebrate his appointment in a warm up match on Tuesday between ‘Team Hill’ and ‘Team Harris’.

Hill will no doubt be looking to back up some excellent displays with the bat in in Group Two of the County Championship, and has a career-best 118 in List A cricket. In his career in the format, he’s scored 846 runs at an average of 24.17 but at a solid strike rate of 94.41. With this year being the best of Hill’s career so far, he will be looking to push strongly past the 1,000 run bracket in List A cricket and lead the Running Foxes to glory in what looks like a wide-open competition, with many teams hit by numerous absences to The Hundred.

Rival captain Billy Godleman endured a tough T20 season but has an excellent career record in List A cricket, accumulating in excess of 2,500 runs in the format. He averages just north of 43 runs per wicket, albeit at a low 78.47 strike rate.

So, this battle of the captains features rather contrasting players - Hill’s attacking nature versus the more stable Godleman. Whoever wins this battle will go a long way to deciding the outcome of tomorrow's match.

Leicestershire Foxes Squad

Head Coach Paul Nixon names a different looking, 14-man squad to any that have been named so far this season with Ackermann and Parkinson not available.

Lewis Hill heads into his first fixture as captain of his home county.

Leicestershire Foxes from 14: Ed Barnes, Will Davis, Harry Dearden, Gavin Griffiths, Marcus Harris, Lewis Hill (C, wk), Dieter Klein, Louis Kimber, Arron Lilley, Ben Mike, Rishi Patel, George Rhodes, Nick Welch, Chris Wright.

Match Sponsor | We would like to thank Gemini Wealth Management for sponsoring our Royal London Cup fixture against Derbyshire Falcons.