Foxes name 13 for T20 opener

Leicestershire Foxes are ready for one of the biggest days in the club’s history as a new era of NatWest T20 Blast under floodlights gets underway at the Fischer County Ground tomorrow night.

The Foxes take on local rivals Northants Steelbacks at 6.30pm following the Varsity game between Official Club Partner De Montfort University and the University of Leicester (1pm).

With more than 3,000 tickets already sold, and a dry weather forecast, the club is hoping for close to a full house of noisy home supporters, among them many joyous Leicester City fans making their annual switch to the summer game and planning to cheer the cricketing Foxes to similar success.

Mark Pettini will lead the Foxes for the first time while overseas stars Umar Akmal and Clint McKay have returned to spearhead the club’s bid of reaching the knockout stages.

Pakistan international batsman Akmal smashed 51 off just 27 balls in an intra-club warm-up game on Tuesday, and his astonishing innings against the Notts Outlaws at Trent Bridge last year showed how destructive a player the 25-year-old can be. Akmal hit 76 not out off 49 balls, and also made a matchwinning contribution at reigning champions Birmingham Bears.

Seam bowler McKay was hailed by Australia national selector Mark Waugh as the “find" of this season’s Big Bash League after finishing the tournament as the leading wicket-taker, picking up 18 victims for winners Sydney Thunder, many with his superbly disguised slower ball.

But as Elite Performance Director Andrew McDonald points out, the depth of talent at the club means the Foxes are not dependent on the form of one or two players. 

Close-season signings Pettini and Neil Dexter are part of a 13-man squad that also includes Niall and Kevin O’Brien and Rob Taylor, who played at the ICC T20 World Cup in March.

Mark Cosgrove, Akmal and McKay have all represented their countries, Jigar Naik and Ben Raine have vast T20 experience with the Foxes, and a number of exciting young players are ready to showcase their talent. Tom Wells, Lewis Hill and James Sykes have been in good form in the practice games and for the Second XI in T20, and are also in the squad.

McDonald said: “Our preparation has been excellent. We had a great pre-season trip to Dubai and played a lot of white ball cricket there. I’m quietly confident we can do well in this competition.

“Last year we had our Irish players Niall and Kevin O’Brien heading away for international duties, which really did change the balance of the side, and it was probably a hurdle too far for the squad we had.

“But I believe this year we’ve covered all bases, so if we have injuries, or individual dips in form, we’ve got things in place to make sure it doesn’t affect the structure of the side.

“Under the lights it’s a great spectacle. The real winners will be the people who turn out and watch, with matches starting an hour later than last season [6.30pm]. Hopefully people will be back from work and ready to get behind us and make a real evening of it.”

Chief Executive Wasim Khan MBE is also excited about the atmosphere that will be created by the floodlights.

He said: “The club has a history of success in the T20 format, and we see Friday night matches under floodlights as another significant step forward in terms of our profile in the city and the county.

“We did quite a lot of research around the county, and a lot of people said to us that if we could push the start time back to 6.30pm, it would make a bit difference in terms of persuading them to come down to the cricket.

“They are exciting times for sport in the city after the success of the football team, and we think Friday night cricket is only going to add to the spillover from the success of Leicester City.”

Northants reached Finals Day last year and will present a tough challenge on what promises to be an entertaining night of action.

The Steelbacks have a number of dangerous hitters including former Foxes favourite Josh Cobb, South Africa duo Richard Levi and Rory Kleinveldt, and Sri Lanka all-rounder Seekkuge Prasanna, who batted and bowled well against Leicestershire Second XI in Northants’ T20 victory on Wednesday.

Foxes squad: Pettini (captain), Cosgrove, K O’Brien, Akmal, N O’Brien (w/k), Hill, Wells, Dexter, Taylor, Raine, McKay, Naik, Sykes.

Steelbacks squad: Wakely (captain), Levi, Cobb, Duckett, Rossington (w/k), Keogh, Prasanna, Kleinveldt, Crook, White, Sanderson, Azharullah, Stone.