England an inspiration as the Foxes start their T20 campaign
Thu 18 Jul 2019
Leicestershire CCC turn their attention to the 2019 Vitality Blast campaign with the visit of Lancashire Lightning only two days away.
Following the dramatic conclusion of the ICC World Cup Final with England winning the trophy on home soil via a super over, the Foxes T20 captain Colin Ackermann is hoping that this will inspire people to get into cricket and to come down to the Fischer County Ground to enjoy all that the Vitality Blast has to offer: “It was a brilliant game to watch, a fantastic advert for the game.
“The whole country was gripped by what was happening and hopefully people can see cricket in a different light after Sunday and will come down to get behind the boys for our Vitality Blast opener against Lancashire.”
Following Leicestershire’s T20 inter-squad game at Oakham on Friday 12th July, Ackermann gives his thoughts on the team as he looks ahead to an exciting period of Vitality Blast action: “It is a slightly smaller squad than last year, but that means huge opportunities and there will be a lot of young guys looking to make a huge impression.”
He continued: “As a group we are very excited, and with hard-hitting allrounders like young Ben Mike and Arron Lilley coming in, the energy levels are right up there.”
Further, Ackermann is excited to see the Fischer County Ground bouncing and generating an atmosphere for the squad come 6:30pm on Friday: “Grace Road generates its own special atmosphere on T20 nights under the lights.
“A few thousand sounds like twice as many, and we can use that to our advantage.”
The Foxes are currently in the middle of a four day Specsavers County Championship fixture away at Gloucestershire CCC as part of the Cheltenham Cricket Festival, but, the Ackermann has no worries about the hectic nature of the cricket season despite not a day's break between the Gloucestershire CCC fixture and the Vitality Blast opener.
He said: “Two years ago we finished a Championship match against Sussex down in Arundel and the next played and won our first T20 match against Lancashire at Liverpool, so that should not be an issue.”
To add to the anticipation building around the fixture, Leicestershire have a number of former Lancashire players in their ranks including Callum Parkinson, Harry Dearden, Gavin Griffiths and the newly acquired Arron Lilley, giving the fixture a bit more meaning: “We have also got a few former Lancashire players in our team, and that always adds a little bit of feeling.
“Hopefully it should be a great night under the floodlights and hopefully the supporters will really turn out to get behind us.”
Speaking before the Specsavers County Championship fixture away at Gloucestershire, Head Coach Paul Nixon said: “It is important that we come away from Gloucestershire with a victory, singing our team song and are ready to come home and deliver a really good T20 competition.
“We are here now (at the time of speaking) at Oakham School having an inter-squad game learning some great lessons along the way.
“We are preparing, getting things ready and making sure that no stone is left unturned so that we go into the Vitality Blast ready, fresh and full of exciting, dynamic cricket.”
* Leicestershire get their Vitality Blast campaign underway against Lancashire Lightning on Friday (19 July). You can book HERE and save 25% on your tickets!
