McDonald: "We need to win the key moments"

Leicestershire CCC Head Coach Andrew McDonald was pleased with the team’s character during the agonising LV=CC defeat at Surrey and now wants performances to be turned into results, starting with Lancashire on Sunday (11am start).

County had five second innings remaining going into the final day at the Kia Oval and Niall O’Brien (78), Ben Raine (33), Clint McKay (41), Rob Taylor (42) and Jigar Naik (30) put up resistance for the best part of four and a half hours.

The team battled for 161.1 overs in their second innings, which was a terrific effort in the circumstances, but it wasn’t to be. An epic 355 not out from Kevin Pietersen, six wickets from Zafar Ansari, and an astonishing last session run chase led by openers Jason Roy and Steven Davies, saw the home side over the line.

McDonald said: “There was a lot of fight from the players over the last couple of days of the game and a lot of them batted for a good amount of time.

“Every batsman set out to occupy the crease and, in the end, we just fell short. But the players gave everything and all I will say is that we have got to start winning the key moments in games. We don’t want to be an almost team. We want to take the next step and deliver.”

The Lancashire game will be the second meeting of the sides inside three days after they locked horns in NatWest T20 Blast at Emirates Old Trafford last night. Lancashire edged home off the last ball in what was a tremendous game of cricket, so everything is set for a good game at Grace Road.

Ned Eckersley is Leicestershire’s leading run-scorer in the LV=CC with 450 at an impressive average of 56.25 and he has scored 2,543 Championship runs since the start of the 2013 season. Only James Vince has scored more in Division Two in that time.

Angus Robson (299 at 37.37), Mark Cosgrove (291 at 41.57) and Niall O’Brien (231 at 57.5) have also been in excellent good form while Lewis Hill made a first-class century in just his third innings at the Kia Oval.

Charlie Shreck (17 wickets at 37.88) and Ben Raine (14 at 39.64) have each taken two four-wicket hauls this year while Clint McKay (16 wickets at 26.43) recorded County’s best figures, 6-54 at Kent.

County have named an 13-man squad for the game with Tom Wells and Ollie Freckingham joining the eleven on duty at Surrey. Nathan Buck makes a return to Grace Road as part of Lancashire's 13-man travelling party.

Buck is one of six players in contention who did not play in Friday night's NatWest T20 Blast fixture along with captain Tom Smith, Paul Horton, Kyle Jarvis, Simon Kerrigan and Luke Procter.

Leics (from): Robson, Hill, Eckersley, Cosgrove (capt), Pinner, O'Brien, Wells, Raine, McKay, Taylor, Naik, Shreck, Freckingham.

Lancs: Smith (capt), Bailey, Brown, Buck, Clark, Croft, Davies (w/k), Horton, Jarvis, Kerrigan, Petersen, Procter, Prince.