Lancashire Lightning Match Preview - 10/6/21

Leicestershire Foxes get their 2021 Vitality Blast campaign up and running with a tricky fixture away at Emirates Old Trafford to take on a strong-looking Lancashire Lightning.

The Running Foxes make the trip North to kick off the campaign, and head into the fixture on the back of four warm-up T20 fixtures which saw the large majority of the 2021 squad utilised.

Overseas signings Josh Inglis and Naveen featured, with Inglis posting an impressive 93 from 56 balls against Yorkshire Vikings, as well as Naveen chipping in with a number of wickets over the course of three appearances.

The opposition head into the their second fixture of the Blast campaign having claimed a victory over Derbyshire Falcons yesterday (June 9) at Emirates Old Trafford. Liam Livingstone (94no, 58b) and overseas star, Finn Allen (29, 13b) starred with the bat, as Matt Parkinson (3 for 28 from 4) was the pick of the bowlers.

Last Time We Met

The two teams met twice last season in the Vitality Blast, with the match at the Uptonsteel County Ground early in the season ending in a draw after Leicestershire posted 150-9 from their 20 overs, and then the rain interrupted, and eventually brought a premature end to the match. Arron Lilley, with 26 from 15 balls, and Ben Mike’s 15 from seven balls were high strike-rate highlights for the Running Foxes.

Our second meeting with Lancashire last season - a must win encounter - ended in celebration, with our 154-5 being defended by 22 runs to see us qualify from the North Group. Nick Welch (43 from 36) and Lilley (49 from 41) underpinned our batting effort on a bowler-friendly pitch, and Colin Ackermann’s stunning 3-18 with the ball turned the match in our favour as Lancashire could only post 132-5 in reply. 

Parkinson v Parkinson

With the Running Foxes facing Lancashire, there is one major talking point ahead of the fixture - Parkinson vs Parkinson.

The twin brothers meet for the seventh time in the T20 format, with the current scoreline reading Callum 2, Matt 3 with one draw, so Callum will no doubt be extremely keen to equal the win totals on Thursday evening. 

Against Lancashire, Callum has impressed with his excellent economy rate, going at just 7.12 runs per over against the North-West team in his career, with best bowling of 2-17. His dot-ball percentage of 36.8% is also ahead of his career dot-ball percentage, showing that he’s been very strong at restricting Lancashire’s scoring options. He’s never actually bowled against his brother in T20 cricket, although Matt has bowled five balls at Callum, who scored four runs in those five deliveries.

Perhaps with some inside knowledge passed on courtesy of his brother, Matt has a worse economy against Leicestershire than Callum has against Lancashire, going at 7.71 runs per over with 30.8% dots - his economy and dot percentage are worse against Leicestershire than his T20 Blast average figures, and we will need to continue this against Matt this week.

Head to Head

Josh Inglis v Finn Allen

Both teams have recruited overseas batters for the T20 Blast, with the Foxes bringing in Perth Scorchers wicketkeeper-batsman Josh Inglis into the pack. The Leeds-born Inglis has had two outstanding seasons in the Big Bash, scoring over 800 runs in the last two editions at an average of 31.46 and a strike rate of 146.59. In what is generally a low-scoring league, these are stunning numbers, and has led to many people calling for Inglis to have a national team call-up for Australia.

Not many people in cricket had heard of Finn Allen a year ago but the former New Zealand Under-19 star shot to prominence in the Super Smash tournament this winter, scoring an incredible 496 runs at a strike rate of 196. Not only this, but Allen hit almost 10% of balls faced for sixes in that tournament and has since hit a rapid 71 from 29 balls for New Zealand against Bangladesh. While the Super Smash is generally a much higher-scoring league than the Big Bash, Allen’s achievements last season mean that our bowlers will need to be on their game to test the New Zealander.

Leicestershire Squad

Paul Nixon has named a 14-man squad for the Running Foxes' opening Vitality Blast fixture.

Overseas stars Naveenulhaq Murid and Josh Inglis slot straight into the squad, with Scott Steel and Arron Lilley making their first matchday squad of the season.

Leicestershire Foxes from 14: Colin Ackermann (C), Ed Barnes, Will Davis, Gavin Griffiths, Lewis Hill, Josh Inglis (wk), Louis Kimber, Arron Lilley, Ben Mike, Naveen, Rishi Patel, Callum Parkinson, Scott Steel, Harry Swindells (wk)