Foxes face RLODC double header

Leicestershire Foxes’ hopes of qualifying for the knockout stages of the Royal London One-Day Cup will be decided in the next two days.

Although the Foxes are currently at the foot of the North Division, only three points separate eight sides with Yorkshire Vikings the sole team on nine points at the top of the table.

Leicestershire face a couple of local derbies as they take on Notts Outlaws at home tomorrow (11am start) on our Former Players’ Day before a short trip to Derbyshire Falcons on Monday afternoon (2pm start).

The scenario is fairly straightforward: the Foxes, who have collected four points from their opening six games, will need to double that tally in the last two fixtures and hope that other results go in their favour.

Runs are expected in the game as the Outlaws posted totals in excess of 400 in their first two fixtures earlier this summer while the pitches at the FCG have been excellent with first innings scores of 340-6, 376-3 and 307-8 in the three matches played so far.

Both teams also batted well in the NatWest T20 Blast game last night with Mark Cosgrove, Farhaan Behardien and Lewis Hill playing nicely for the Foxes before Michael Lumb and Dan Christian produced destructive innings for the Outlaws.

All told, there were 316 runs in just 28.3 overs at Trent Bridge so everything is set for an entertaining encounter, which is the final white ball group game of the season at the FCG.

With a busy schedule that includes all three formats in the space of seven days, there has been some squad rotation ahead of tomorrow’s match.

Kevin O’Brien and Ben Raine return after resting against Lancashire Lightning on Tuesday while Ned Eckersley, James Sykes and Atif Sheikh are also pushing for starts after being named in a 13-man squad.

Foxes (from): Pettini (capt), Horton, Delport, K O’Brien, Hill, N O’Brien (w/k), Burgess, Eckersley, Raine, Sayer, Sykes, Freckingham, Sheikh