Foxes ready for Headingley trip

Leicestershire CCC Elite Performance Director Andrew McDonald says the club is excited ahead of tomorrow night’s NatWest T20 Blast match against Yorkshire Vikings.

The Foxes were beaten by Northants Steelbacks off the second last ball of their opening T20 fixture under the new floodlights at the Fischer County Ground and now travel to a test match venue as they look to get off the mark in the competition.

McDonald has fond memories of Headingley having once made a brilliant unbeaten 96 during a fine Foxes win there, so is well aware of the ground’s inspiring qualities.

“We could have done some things better against Northants, but we still took it until there were just two balls remaining, and the players have learned from that and are ready to go and do the job on Friday night,” said McDonald.

“Every day you have the opportunity to play this great game you learn a lot. It’s a great sport, it tests you mentally, physically and technically, and every day you learn a little bit about yourself, your team-mates, and how you cope.

“The key for us is to make sure we stick together. On Friday we get the opportunity to go out and play a T20 game against a good Yorkshire side on an international ground. There’ll be a big crowd and we’re very much looking forward to it."

The Foxes have named an unchanged 13-man squad for the trip to Headingley with James Sykes and Lewis Hill travelling with the team that took on Northants.

The presence of explosive Pakistan international batsman Umar Akmal in the Foxes line-up is certain to excite the crowd at Headingley. Akmal, who turns 26 today, hit a brilliant 52 not out off 32 balls against the Steelbacks, an innings which included three big sixes.

It means Akmal, who made four appearances for Leicestershire in last season’s competition, has now hit 185 runs in the four NatWest T20 Blast innings he has played for the Foxes. Three of those knocks have been unbeaten half-centuries.

County also looks to have found a promising opening partnership in Mark Pettini, who captains in one-day cricket this season, and Mark Cosgrove, the skipper in red ball cricket.

The new pairing complemented each other nicely in hitting 62 from the six-over powerplay against the Steelbacks, including eleven fours and a maximum. 

Yorkshire, who this week announced a sell-out for their Roses contest with Lancashire later this summer, will be making their first appearance in the competition.

The hosts will be without big winter signing David Willey as the England all-rounder is ruled out of the game with an abdominal injury, while Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow are on international duty.

Leicestershire from: Pettini (captain), Cosgrove, K O’Brien, Akmal, N O’Brien, Wells, Dexter, Taylor, Raine, McKay, Naik, Sykes, Hill.