Notts Outlaws Match Preview - 1/7/21

Leicestershire Foxes travel to Trent Bridge with their 2021 Vitality Blast campaign all but over following defeat at the hands of Northamptonshire Steelbacks on Tuesday (June 29).

The Foxes fell to a five-wicket defeat at the Uptonsteel County Ground, after Steelbacks chased down the 139 required with 10 balls remaining to leave Leicestershire at the foot of the North Group table, five points adrift of the top four with four group games remaining.

Scott Steel was once again the shining light in the defeat, after posting 44 in a testing innings where his teammates struggled to form any sort of partnership.

Harry Swindells came in for his first Vitality Blast appearance of the season and showed impetus from his 16-ball stay, posting 32 including three successive maximums.

Notts Outlaws head into tonight’s clash atop the North Group table, with a superior run-rate than that of second placed Yorkshire Vikings, and off the back of a 7-run victory over Lancashire Lightning where Alex Hales recorded an unbeaten 101 off 66 balls.

The hosts have since had a four day lay-off since their last fixture.

Last Time We Met

The two teams met on three occasions last season, with the first match ending in a straightforward five-wicket victory for our hosts at Trent Bridge. The Running Foxes only managed 123-8 from their 20 overs, with Gareth Delany (25, 15b) making the most impression. The Irishman also took two wickets in the Notts chase, which looked like it was going to chase down the low target with ease at 62-1, but three quick wickets left them 74-4. However, Dan Christian’s 33(26b) saw Notts home with five overs to spare.

We got revenge on Notts at Grace Road in one of our best victories of last season’s tournament. Having won the toss and chose to bat, Notts made 162-7 with Callum Parkinson (2-29) and Will Davis (3-38) impressing in particular with the ball. Tom Moores (51, 36b) and Ben Duckett (53, 43b) hit half-centuries for our opponents. Skipper Colin Ackermann (67 not out, 53b) led us to a four-wicket victory after a late wobble, with a ball to spare - backed up vitally at the end by Callum Parkinson (13, 8b). 

Our final match against Outlaws last season will live long in the memory, but for the wrong reasons. This was the quarter-final of the tournament, played at Trent Bridge, and having won the toss, our hosts inserted us to bat first. Having been reduced to 22-3 from slightly more than six overs, we recovered to 139-7 with a gem of an innings from Harry Swindells (58, 43b - coming in at 22-3) with further support from Colin Ackermann (43, 33b).

Notts were under pressure at 67-4 after 10 overs, and continued to struggle, with the required rate getting higher and higher. They needed 17 to win with seven balls remaining, but several late fielding errors cost us, with Samit Patel (28, 16b) seeing them over the line in a tied match which was decided on Powerplay countback. Gavin Griffiths (3-21), Colin Ackermann (3-27) plus Callum Parkinson (1-21) were outstanding with the ball and Parkinson's bowling of Alex Hales was one of the wickets of the season - he will, no doubt, be hoping to back this up with another dismissal of one of their key batters in this match.

Head to Head

Callum Parkinson v Samit Patel

The battle of the two left-arm spinners promises to be a fascinating one at Trent Bridge tonight. Yet again, Callum Parkinson has had an outstanding season for the Running Foxes this year, taking 13 wickets so far at a cost of 22.84 runs per wicket and a strong economy rate of 7.42. Callum’s 84 dot balls ranks him third in the competition so far, behind another Foxes bowler, Naveen-ul-Haq (86) and Yorkshire’s Lockie Ferguson (85).

Parkinson is three wickets ahead of Samit Patel, who has taken 10 wickets so far, at an average of 21.20 but conceding one run per over fewer at 6.42, and the former England veteran has Notts’ best economy rate by some distance in this year’s competition.

Longer-term, it is Parkinson with the slightly better data - from the start of 2018 onwards, he’s taking wickets at fewer than 19 balls per wicket at an economy rate just shy of 7.40 runs per over, while Patel in the Blast has a marginally higher economy rate and balls per wicket figure.

With both players extremely capable slow left-arm bowlers, this match-up will be key to the success for both teams in this match.

Leicestershire Foxes Squad 

Head Coach Paul Nixon has included an extra addition to the upcoming away fixtures against Notts Outlaws and Durham Cricket, with an extra batsman being added to the line-up in Nick Welch.

Louis Kimber remains part of the travelling party after passing the Club's COVID protocol, after close contact with an individual who recorded a positive lateral flow test prior to the fixture against Northamptonshire Steelbacks, on June 29, kept him out of the tie. Louis has since returned multiple negative lateral flow tests and the Club has identified no other close contacts within the playing group or backroom staff.

Leicestershire Foxes from 15: 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), Nick Welch.