Durham v Foxes Preview

Leicestershire Foxes picked up their first Vitality Blast win of the season against Notts Outlaws at Trent Bridge as Arron Lilley’s maiden T20 half-century at number three inspired the team to victory.

Lilley’s 66 came from just 30 balls, with the 50 coming up in 22 deliveries including seven fours and two sixes. His second maximum brought up the landmark, and his ability to find the fence with regularity ensured the Foxes were able to post a target above 11 runs per over.

To put the innings into context, only Luke Ronchi, Josh Cobb and Ben Raine have posted swifter half-centuries in the Foxes' proud competition history.

Lilley spoke to Foxes TV after the game. He said: “I have been given a bit of a free rein by the coaches to go out there and play my way and it felt good today. Obviously, it was my highest score – it felt good.”

Following the Foxes impressive response to the defeat at the Fischer County Ground against Durham Cricket only a day before, the squad now head up north to the Emirates Riverside to face them for the second time in five days on Wednesday (July 31).

Lilley said: “The lads did really well at Trent Bridge. We nailed our yorkers and slower balls and think that we will go up there with confidence after beating Notts on their own patch.

“We will go to Durham high in confidence and hopefully the momentum gained today will take us through it.”

Head Coach Paul Nixon was ecstatic following the Foxes 21-run victory over Notts Outlaws. He said: “The lads have taken a bit of stick, which is understandable, and have worked hard over this period of time, despite not executing as we would like to.

“People continue to come and support us, and it's great to be able to reward them with a good win. We could hear them singing, and hopefully they heard our team song too.

“Tonight we played our ultimate game. We batted beautifully, and the partnership of Arron [Lilley] and Cozzie [Mark Cosgrove] up front just took the game away from Notts.

“Lil [Arron Lilley] seemed to know exactly where they were going to bowl and their plans and the way he executed at a big venue, under a bit of pressure, was high-class.”

The Head Coach spoke on Lilley’s maiden half-century: “A 22-ball fifty against high class bowling is a brilliant effort.

“That’s exactly why we got Arron [Lilley] – we know how dangerous he is in this format and he has played in big games.

“Nothing fazes him. He has special ability with the bat in his hand and he wants to win games of cricket for Leicestershire, and he has done that today.”

With the return fixture against Durham lying just five days later after the defeat at the Fischer County Ground, Nixon is looking ahead to the fixture: “It’s almost back-to-back fixtures against Durham.

“It’s very different up there, it is a big field generally so a lot of twos should be available and maybe not as many fours or sixes,” he said.

“We will go there full of confidence and we know that we under-performed last Friday, but we also know a lot more about Durham now.

“We have got to go and give them a bit of their own medicine. We were hurt following the bad loss and they played brilliantly.

“We bowled probably as poorly as we will bowl all competition and we got hurt. It was sad that it was at home because we want to do well for our home fans, that’s really important for us.

“We are confident that we will turn this around and we have to keep positive and keep believing and keep putting in performances like today [against Notts Outlaws].”

Nixon has named an unchanged 13-man squad for the trip to the north-east, with Ben Mike and Chris Wright travelling alongside the XI that won at Trent Bridge.

Leicestershire Foxes (from 13): Ackermann (capt), Aadil, Cosgrove, Davis, Dearden, Hill (wk), Griffiths, Klein, Lilley, Mike, Parkinson, Swindells, Wright.

* The Foxes head to Durham on Wednesday (31 July) to build on their first Vitality Blast win of the season following victory over Notts Outlaws at Trent Bridge.