Durham Cricket Match Preview - 2/7/21

Leicestershire Foxes travel to the North for their final Vitality Blast game before the brief hiatus for the conclusion of the LV= County Championship campaign.

The Foxes make the trip to get their second away fixture in as many days underway after falling to a six-wicket defeat at the hands of Notts Outlaws yesterday (July 1).

Harry Swindells top scored for the Foxes in the fixture, with 36 off 30, as he looked to restore some composure to a frontline batting line-up that failed to get the innings up and running at Trent Bridge.

The Foxes responded with the ball in the Outlaws’ powerplay, with the wickets of Duckett (20, 9b), Hales (13, 7b) and Trego (0, 1b), but the fourth wicket partnership of Slater and Patel recorded 99 runs to put the Outlaws into the driving seat with five overs, left as Parkinson pinned Slater (48, 31b) infront.

Last Time We Met

We met Durham earlier in the season at the Uptonsteel County Ground in June, falling to a two wicket defeat. Batting first, the Running Foxes posted 168-9 from their 20 overs, with 53 (38b) from Scott Steel against his former Club underpinning our batting. A quickfire 31 (21b) from Arron Lilley, including three sixes, was also a key innings for us, with Matty Potts (3-27) and former-Fox Ben Raine (3-19) doing the main damage for the visitors.

At 85-7 in their chase, needing 84 from 9 overs, Durham looked in deep trouble. However, another former-Fox, Ned Eckersley, anchored their chase with 50 not out (36b) and this was backed up at the death by Liam Trevaskis, who posted an unbeaten 30 (20b). Arron Lilley (3-26), and Colin Ackermann (2-19), impressed with their off-spin for us, but our pace bowlers struggled to back them up at the critical point of Durham’s chase in what was a difficult loss to take.

Head to Head

Josh Inglis v Ben Stokes

Two dynamic batters hold the key to deciding the outcome of this match. Wicket-keeper/batsman Inglis has impressed for the Running Foxes as an overseas player, scoring 336 runs at an average of 33.60 and strike rate of 163.90. Hitting 56 boundaries in 205 balls faced, Inglis has hit over 27% of his balls faced for boundaries, which is an elite-level figure.

Left-hander Stokes has made some rare appearances for Durham this season in his recovery from injury, and the England man has scored 95 runs at an average of 19.00 with a strike rate of 125. He’s hit a boundary percentage of 18.42% in the Vitality Blast season so far.

While their numbers this season give Inglis the edge in the key match-up, Stokes’ longer-term batting data against high standards of opposition demonstrate his ability, and he remains the key wicket for us to take in the upcoming match. He’s also taken seven wickets for Durham this season with his right-arm pace, at an average of 22.00 and economy rate of 9.05, so we have to be alert to the threat that all-rounder Stokes poses with the ball as well.

Leicestershire Foxes Squad

The same squad that travelled to Trent Bridge has subsequently travelled up to Durham to cap off the away double-header.

Leicestershire Foxes from 14: Colin Ackermann (C), Ed Barnes, Will Davis, Gavin Griffiths, Lewis Hill, Josh Inglis (wk), Arron Lilley, Ben Mike, Naveen, Rishi Patel, Callum Parkinson, Scott Steel, Harry Swindells (wk), Nick Welch.