Match Preview - Warwickshire CCC 29/7/21

The Running Foxes begin their away 2021 Royal London Cup campaign with a trip to the neighbouring Warwickshire CCC to take on the Edgbaston-based team in the third round of the Royal London Cup.

County head into the clash off the back of a home defeat to Yorkshire Vikings, by seven wickets, as the visitors to the Uptonsteel County Ground chased down the required 328 with 19 balls remaining. Marcus Harris and Lewis Hill both hit their first tons of the campaign in a record-breaking third wicket stand for Leicestershire against Yorkshire in List A cricket. Leicestershire also have a win to their name, after defeating Derbyshire Falcons in the opening round of the competition.

Warwickshire sit on the same amount of points as Leicestershire, despite having played a game more and head into the tie on the back of their first victory in the format, at their third attempt. The victory came in a weather affected tie at the Incora County Ground against Derbyshire Falcons, with the visitors chasing down the required total within the allotted 37 overs. Warwickshire opening batsman, Ed Pollock, hit an unbeaten 103 in the win.

Last Time We Met

We last met our hosts in List A cricket on the Monday, May 6, 2019, in a match which took place at the Uptonsteel County Ground - the Running Foxes winning by 36 runs in a high-scoring encounter.

Winning the toss and deciding to bat, lower-order hitter Tom Taylor smashed 98 from 56 balls with solid top order support from skipper Colin Ackermann (74, 80b) and Harry Dearden (69, 62b). Oliver Hannon-Dalby (3-81) was the leading wicket-taker for Warwickshire.

In reply, a quickfire 57 (55b) from Ed Pollock got the Warwickshire chase off to a flier before he was bowled by Callum Parkinson, and despite the efforts of Rob Yates (66, 74b) and some lower order resistance from Craig Miles (31, 17b) and Jeetan Patel (28, 19b), three wickets apiece from Dieter Klein and Tom Taylor helped Leicestershire to a relatively comfortable defence of their first innings score.

Head to Head

Rishi Patel v Ed Pollock

With both openers having a strong start to the Royal London Cup campaign, focus will be on them among others to provide their team with strong starts with the bat.

For the Running Foxes, Rishi Patel has scored 94 runs across the two matches so far from 102 balls faced (strike rate of 92.16) and has caught the eye, as he has done throughout this season so far, with his stylish stroke-play and attacking intent - showing just why he was recruited from Essex CCC towards the end of last year.

Warwickshire’s Ed Pollock picked up his maiden List A century on Tuesday (July 27) with 103 from 115 balls against Derbyshire which looked like an untypically responsible knock from their usually ultra-attacking opener. He has struck at 112.98 in his 50-over career so far, clearly showing his high intent and why he is such a dangerous player in white ball cricket - as we know from his 57 in our previous encounter with him in this format. With our opposition fielding a fairly youthful team, they will be relying on Pollock to give them a flying start, so our bowlers must be on their game to restrict Pollock’s scoring ability.

Leicestershire Foxes Squad

Running Foxes Head Coach, Paul Nixon, makes two changes to the squad that faced Yorkshire Vikings at the Uptonsteel County Ground as Harry Swindells returns from injury having successfully passing a fitness test and is joined by the latest addition to the Running Foxes, Roman Walker, following his move from Glamorgan CCC.

Leicestershire Foxes from 14: Rehan Ahmed, Ed Barnes, Gavin Griffiths, Marcus Harris, Lewis Hill (C, wk), Louis Kimber, Dieter Klein, Arron Lilley, Ben Mike, Rishi Patel, George Rhodes, Harry Swindells (wk), Roman Walker, Chris Wright.