Northamptonshire Steelbacks | T20 Match Preview - 02/06/2023
Fri 2 Jun 2023
Leicestershire travel to Wantage Road to face Northamptonshire Steelbacks in the fifth round of the Vitality Blast this evening.
The Foxes suffered a narrow two-run defeat to Derbyshire Falcons last night but are boosted by the return of Naseem Shah, who comes back into the fold for the injured Wiaan Mulder.
The Steelbacks are aiming to bounce back from a 21-run defeat to Birmingham Bears last time out, losing three of their opening four matches so far.
Last Time We Met:
The Foxes edged a high-scoring thriller by the barest of margins in the penultimate fixture of the group stage last summer.
Welch (38), Hill (26) and Lilley (29) got the side off to a flyer, but it was Colin Ackermann’s imperious 85 off 44 that helped Leicestershire their highest ever T20 score on home soil.
Callum Parkinson struck first ball in Northants’ reply, but Chris Lynn, Josh Cobb and Jimmy Neesham almost took the game away from the Foxes with brutal half-centuries. Ben Mike held his nerve in the final over to help Leicestershire to a narrow one-run win.
Head-to-Head:
Naveen’s return the Foxes squad will be a huge boost to their chances of picking up a first victory of the campaign. The Afghanistan star has taken 50 wickets in his two previous T20 campaigns in Leicester, becoming the fastest Fox to do so.
His table-topping 26 wickets in 2021 came at 17.57, while his 24 wickets last term came at just 16.16 at an economical 7.7 runs per over.
For the Steelbacks, ex-Fox Tom Taylor is a dangerous player with both bat and ball. His destructive batting capabilities have been evident so far this campaign with an average of 51 striking at 137.83. With the ball, the all-rounder has 31 wickets to his name since the start of 2021.
Squad:
There are three changes to the squad, as Naseem returns for the injured Wiaan Mulder, while Josh Hull and Louis Kimber are both added to the fold following impressive Second XI showings.
Leicestershire Foxes: Ackermann*, Ahmed, Budinger, Davis, Finan, Hill, Hull, Kimber, Naveen, Naseem, Parkinson, Patel, Swindells+, Welch.
