McDonald: "Adapting is key"

Leicestershire Foxes has added hard-hitting all-rounder Cameron Delport to their squad as they prepare to take on Lancashire Lightning in NatWest T20 Blast at Emirates Old Trafford tomorrow night (6.30pm start).

The 27-year-old, who is playing for the Second XI in a Trophy game against Nottinghamshire at Loughborough Town CC today, comes into the 13-man squad in place of the injured Niall O’Brien. Lewis Hill will take over wicket-keeping duties.

The game marks the start of another busy weekend of white ball action as a third Royal London One-Day Cup match follows at Northants Steelbacks on Sunday (11am start).

Elite Performance Director Andrew McDonald said the switch between formats is a challenge but one that the players are quickly getting used to.

“At the moment it’s all about flipping between the two white ball formats and making sure we’re ready,” said McDonald.

“T20 is a real roller-coaster and you have to be tactically on the button all the time, make sure you get your match-ups spot-on with every ball.

“When it comes to the RLODC, the new fielding restrictions, which mean you’re only allowed four men out of the circle at any one time in the second powerplay, do make it more difficult for the bowlers to defend, whereas in T20 you have usually got five men out.

“That means the batters are cashing in over 50 overs, you can see that from the scores, and I guess that was the intention of the rule change.

“It makes it particularly difficult for spinners, who used to rule the roost in one-day cricket, and the challenge is to come up with some tactics to combat it in this format, and be creative, like we have been in T20.

“In a sense it’s back to the drawing board for us with those two losses in RL50, but with two wins already to our name in T20, beating Lancashire would put us in a strong position in the group going forward. They’re two big games and we’re looking forward to the weekend.”

It has been a mixed few days for the Foxes, who hammered Durham Jets in the NatWest Blast T20 in front of a delighted home crowd last Saturday before losing Royal London One-Day Cup matches against Durham and Warwickshire.

A victory against Lancashire, last year’s champions, would be a huge boost for the Foxes, who went agonisingly close to victory on the ground in the first match of the 2015 campaign.

Ireland international Kevin O’Brien, who made his debut for the club in that encounter, is in excellent form with the bat and overseas star Umar Akmal has been not out in the victories against Yorkshire and Durham.

With the ball, no bowler in NatWest T20 Blast has bowled more dot balls than Ben Raine (45), though Clint McKay (41) is not far behind the young all-rounder.

Lightning has had a mixed start in the competition but they landed a terrific win in the Roses match last Friday night. New Zealand international Martin Guptill and Karl Brown have each scored 113 runs and Jos Buttler has also been in good touch. George Edwards has led the way with the ball, taking nine wickets.

However, the Red Rose county has been dealt a blow as Guptill is ruled out of tomorrow's game through injury.

Northants was involved in a high-scoring thriller RLODC at Nottinghamshire on Monday - losing by just 20 runs chasing 446 to win - before landing an impressive win against Lancashire Lightning yesterday.

The Steelbacks is also the only team who can boast a 100% record in NatWest T20 Blast this season so will enter Sunday’s 50-over game in good white ball form.

Leicestershire squad for Lancashire: Pettini (c), Cosgrove, K O’Brien, Akmal, Delport, Dexter, Hill (w/k), Wells, Raine, McKay, Taylor, Sykes, Naik.