McDonald: "We know where we're heading"

Leicestershire Foxes Head Coach Andrew McDonald expects his players to take the confidence gained from their County Championship win into the NatWest T20 Blast derby against Nottinghamshire Outlaws on Friday.

County beat Essex by six wickets on Wednesday and with two victories in the T20 already under their belt, the win at Chelmsford confirmed McDonald's side to be very much on the up.

"Every game of cricket we play to win, and we want to continue to build something," said McDonald. 

"Winning at Essex will help, in that it confirms to the players that the game plan they're being given works, and if they continue to get better and better at doing that, they'll win more games.

"It's a pretty simple mindset. It's been a fresh start, a new era, and internally we know where we're going and where we're heading."

Making his debut for the Foxes will be Pakistan international batsman Umar Akmal, who replaces New Zealand star Grant Elliott, now part of the Kiwis' one-day squad for the upcoming series against England.

Also missing will be the O'Brien brothers, Kevin and Niall, on international duty with Ireland.

The highly talented Akmal, 24, has a best T20 score of 94 for his country, and a terrific overall strike rate of 128.65 in his T20 career. 

Foxes' captain Mark Cosgrove said: "It's fantastic to have Umar with us while Grant is with New Zealand. Along with Clint McKay, it means we have high-class overseas players to supplement the young talent already here."

Tomorrow evening could be called ‘Reunion night’ as Charlie Shreck returns to his former club while Harry Gurney is one of four former Leicestershire players who could face his old teammates.

James Taylor and Greg Smith are also at Nottinghamshire while Stuart Broad has been given permission to play by the ECB. Broad’s last appearance for the Outlaws in T20 was at Finals Day in 2010.

Gurney said: “There’s not many players left at Leicestershire from when I was there, certainly not from when I made my debut.

“It’s quite a different set up now, it’s been all change this year and there’s a new backroom team in, with Andrew McDonald in charge.

“He’s a good man who I played under when I was there and I know he’ll get them playing a good brand of cricket and we can’t take them lightly.”

Leics (from): Cosgrove (capt), Agathangelou, Akmal, Boyce, Eckersley, McKay, Naik, Pinner, Raine, Sheikh, Shreck, Sykes, Taylor, Wells.