Match Preview vs Yorkshire Vikings
Tue 1 Sep 2020
Leicestershire Foxes make their second trip up to Emerald Headingley in three days to take on Yorkshire Vikings following their 30-run victory over Durham Cricket on Monday, August 31.
The victory was the Foxes’ first in the 2020 edition following washouts against Derbyshire Falcons and Lancashire Lightning in the previous two fixtures of the competition.
With the win, the Foxes sit pretty in third place in the 2020 Vitality Blast North Group table with the Vikings sitting one point and place below them in fourth.
Gareth Delany and Arron Lilley shared a record breaking second wicket partnership of 88 against Durham to lift the Foxes into a commanding position heading into Durham’s reply, with Delany posting a maiden Vitality Blast half-century, and Lilley posting a career-best T20 score of 69.
The Vikings head into the fixture on the back of a six-wicket defeat which saw Notts Outlaws chase down 190 for the win at Trent Bridge.
As the contest is scheduled to be played behind closed doors and is not live on Sky Sports, the fixture will be available to stream from the ECB Hub. Find more information HERE.
Head-to-Head
This fixture’s head-to-head is based around the battle of batting wicket-keepers, Lewis Hill (Foxes) and Jonathan Tattersall (Vikings).
With the bat from 2018 onwards, Foxes ‘keeper Hill has scored 261 runs at a strike rate of 124.28, while Yorkshire keeper Tattersall has scored 275 runs at a strike rate of 129.10.
However, these basic statistics do not tell the whole story. With both keepers tending to bat a large chunk of their balls faced in the death overs, Hill thrives in this phase as a finisher, scoring his career runs in the last five overs at an impressive strike rate of 165.8, and hitting boundaries in 20% of balls faced.
Opposing number Tattersall is slightly behind the Foxes man in this phase, striking at 161.7 and hitting boundaries 18.5% of the time.
In addition, Hill's numbers suggest that he is more of a six-hitting threat - crucial in this phase - and this could give the Foxes the edge in Wednesday's clash.
Last Time We Met in Vitality Blast
The last time that Leicestershire Foxes and Yorkshire Vikings met in the Vitality Blast was in July of last season’s competition.
This was the only meeting of the sides in the Blast last year as Vikings travelled to the Fischer County Ground for a meeting under the floodlights.
Foxes captain Colin Ackermann won the toss and opted to field first, looking to put Vikings under pressure from the first ball.
The boundary at the Fischer County Ground was purposely brought in for this fixture making it a small field with the short boundary on the Milligan Road side of the field.
Dieter Klein opened the bowling for the Foxes to Adam Lyth who began on the front-foot, hitting the South African for 10 from the first over.
This set the tone for the Vikings innings as the first wicket partnership was finally brought to an end on 116 after 10.1 overs, with Klein catching Lyth (69, 35b) off the bowling of Parkinson.
Tom Kohler-Cadmore played a pivotal part in the partnership, recognising that Lyth was the man who was seeing it big and helped his partner to his score of 69. Kohler-Cadmore was on 37(26b) as Lyth made way for overseas wicket-keeper batsman Nicholas Pooran.
Two overs later and Kohler-Cadmore brought up his half-century as Pooran began to get in on the boundaries himself earning his first six from Chris Wright in the fourteenth.
The partnership went from strength to strength with both men looking in sublime touch, which culminated in Pooran posting 23 in the sixteenth, and Vikings taking 27.
Pooran brought his fifty up in the next over, still accompanied by Kohler-Cadmore who was now on 77(45b).
The 121-run partnership was finally brough to an end as Dearden was underneath Pooran’s effort as he looked to send Klein for six. Pooran departed with a 28 ball 67, leaving Kohler-Cadmore at the crease on 85, as Harry Brook met him in the middle.
Kohler-Cadmore eventually ran out of time to turn his half-century into a century as the 20 overs concluded with him on 96no (54b) accompanied by Brook 6(4b), setting the Foxes an impressive target of 253 for the win.
The Foxes began well posting 55 for one in the powerplay with the wicket of Neil Dexter (25, 19b) falling on 5.5 – with Mark Cosgrove sitting well on a 16 ball 25.
The Foxes’ next wicket fell as they reached the halfway point of the innings, as Cosgrove (31, 29b) fell victim to the bowling of Dominic Bess, caught by Gary Ballance. The Foxes were 82 for two after 10.
Ackermann who was on 22 from 12 was joined by Arron Lilley as the Foxes were in need of a telling partnership to give them any chance in the fixture.
The partnership only reached 28, though, before Ackermann (29, 18b) was bowled by Thompson. Lewis Hill came to the crease with the Foxes on 110 for three after 12.1.
Hill and Lilley struck a good partnership in the middle, which was highlighted after Hill hit Bess for four followed by back-to-back sixes in an over that yielded 23 runs, including a six from Lilley as well.
At the end of the sixteenth over, the Foxes sat on 158 for three with Hill and Lilley displaying the form needed to make the tie interesting at the very least.
As the game entered the final two overs, the fourth wicket stand came to an end on 67 with the Foxes on 177 for four after Lilley (47, 24b) was caught by Harry Brook off the bowling of Mathew Pillans.
Harry Dearden joined Hill (35, 21b) at the crease with Leicestershire looking to finish with a late rally.
Hill hit Pillans for back-to-back sixes immediately after Lilley’s departure, with the over coming to an end with four leg-byes.
Dearden (5no, 4b) and Hill (49no, 28b) then saw out the remaining six balls, claiming six runs from them as Leicestershire’s reply finished on 201 for four as the Foxes gave a good account of themselves against a star-studded Vikings side.
Squad
The squad for the Vikings fixture remains the same from the 13 named for the Durham match.
Gareth Delany and Arron Lilley will be looking to continue their form from the victory against Durham.
Despite incredible figures of 4-0-23-0 in the last outing, Tom Taylor is still searching for his maiden Vitality Blast wicket.
Callum Parkinson and Gavin Griffiths will be looking to continue their tidy spells of 3 for 21, and 1 for 27 respectively.
Ben Mike and Arron Lilley still haven’t bowled a ball in this year’s competition, and will be ready to do so if called upon by Ackermann.
Leicestershire from 13: Colin Ackermann (c), Will Davis, Gareth Delany, Harry Dearden, Gavin Griffiths, Lewis Hill, Dieter Klein, Arron Lilley, Ben Mike, Callum Parkinson, George Rhodes, Harry Swindells, Tom Taylor.
