Foxes ready for first home RLODC challenge

Dieter Klein is looking forward to some home comforts as the Foxes welcome Worcestershire Rapids for their latest Royal London One-Day Cup challenge tomorrow (11am start).

The Foxes have had a tough start to the campaign, losing at both Yorkshire Vikings and Durham Cricket, but now have four of their final six group games at the Fischer County Ground.

“We are looking forward to getting back to our home ground and enjoying some good support, as we always get here,” said Klein.

“It’s a case of putting in a good all-round performance against Worcestershire. We know that we need to put some more runs on the board, and then we can do well in this competition.

“Cameron Bancroft showed us exactly how to do it with his innings for Durham. He didn’t play any extravagant shots, he just played his own game. There’s a lesson for us to take from that.”

Klein was pleased to see the benefit of a hard winter’s work pay off at Emirates Riverside in his first appearance of the 2019 season.

“I have been fighting hard over the winter to get myself into a good position physically and in better shape,” said Klein.

“It is rewarding to come in and score some runs and take some wickets, but as a team we have lost two matches in this competition. We know where we need to go and what we need to work on.

“We had to take a little bit of time to assess what the pitch was doing, but with coming in at that stage, there was only one job that I had to do. We tried to bat long into the innings and then cash in at the end.”

Klein's performance, coupled with the continued excellence of all-rounder Tom Taylor, were two huge positives for the Foxes during the game at Chester-le-Street.

Taylor has been in fine form in both formats. The 24-year-old took ten wickets in the Specsavers County Championship opener at Sussex CCC, snared a three-for in the early exchanges at Yorkshire Vikings, and has recorded fifties batting against both the red ball and the white.

Klein helped Taylor add 81 for the eighth wicket, went on to post a career-best 46, and then took two wickets with the ball in a good display of left arm quick bowling. He beat batsmen for pace on a wicket that had been used in the previous Royal London One-Day Cup match against Northants Steelbacks.

He said: “Since last year Tom [Taylor] has gone one way and that's up. We're very pleased to have him in the team. He's one of those that worked very hard in the winter. You can see that he has matured, and it was good to see that performance from him.

“We bowled well up front. One of our plans was taking wickets but also not letting them get off to a flyer. We did that well, but we need to get more wickets in the middle period. We haven’t done that in either of the matches so far.

“But Cameron [Bancroft] is a good batsman, he twice got hit on the helmet but he stood his ground and that [his quality] should be taken into consideration when the game is analysed.”

Due to the quick turnaround in fixtures, the Leicestershire Foxes squad will be monitored ahead of the game against a Rapids side that started the competition with an impressive win against Lancashire Cricket at Emirates Old Trafford.

Aadil Ali (shoulder) and Chris Wright (illness) have been ruled out of the match. Harry Swindells and Klein came into the XI against Durham, and slow left armer Callum Parkinson and all-rounder Ben Mike are also in contention having been part of the travelling squads this week. 

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