Northamptonshire Steelbacks Match Preview - 20/6/21

Leicestershire Foxes make the trip down the M1 tomorrow (June 20) to take on Northamptonshire Steelbacks in the sixth round of 2021 Vitality Blast fixtures.

Both teams head into the fixture occupying the bottom two places in the North Group, with only 1 point accrued between them thanks to the weather-affected draw between Steelbacks and Worcestershire Rapids yesterday (June 18).

Last time out, the Running Foxes suffered a home defeat at the hands of Birmingham Bears live on Sky Sports on Wednesday (June 16), and have since had what will be three full days off as they head to the County Ground in Northampton.

Prior to their rain-affected draw against Rapids, Steelbacks fell to a five-wicket defeat in Derbyshire as the Falcons chased down their total 152 with 14 balls remaining.

Last Time We Met

We have to go back to 2019 for our last meeting with Northamptonshire Steelbacks in the T20 Blast, with both matches significantly rain-affected.

At the Uptonsteel County Ground, we limped to 137-9 from our 20 overs after deciding to bat. Harry Dearden (37, 31b) top-scored for us, with Ben Sanderson taking 4-28 and Dwaine Pretorius 3-17 impressing with the ball for the Steelbacks.

After 2.4 overs of our visitors’ reply, they were forced off the pitch due to rain at 16-0, with both teams taking a point from the match.

This was also the case at the County Ground, Northampton, for the second meeting between the two teams a week later - that match was abandoned without a ball being bowled. We hope for better weather for tomorrows clash!

Head to Head

Ben Mike v Tom Taylor

Ben Mike impressed in our last match against Birmingham Bears, with a career-best 4-22 with the ball. He has also done well for the Running Foxes with the bat in the last couple of T20 Blast seasons, scoring 138 runs at a strike rate of 155.1 with a 18% boundary percentage, adequately illustrating his value as a lower-order finisher.

This meeting will be the first time that Tom Taylor has faced Leicestershire in a T20 match since he left for Northamptonshire towards the end of last season. For the Steelbacks, he’s taken eight wickets in 18 overs with the ball, at an average of 21.00 and an economy rate of 9.33. He’s performed with the bat too, hitting 107 runs at a strike rate of 147, and a boundary percentage of just over 19%. 

Both players will be keen to impress for different reasons in this intriguing match-up - Mike to back-up his wicket-taking exploits against the Birmingham Bears last time out, and Taylor with a point to prove against his former Club. Whoever wins the all-rounder battle on Sunday will have a big say in their team’s chances of success.

Leicestershire Foxes Squad

Head Coach Paul Nixon returns with the same 14-man squad following a short rest period for the Running Foxes.

Leicestershire Foxes from 14: Colin Ackermann (C), Ed Barnes, Will Davis, Gavin Griffiths, Lewis Hill, Josh Inglis (wk), Louis Kimber, Arron Lilley, Ben Mike, Naveen, Rishi Patel, Callum Parkinson, Scott Steel, Harry Swindells (wk)