Notts Outlaws Match Preview - 1/8/21

The Running Foxes head to Welbeck Colliery Cricket Club to take on Notts Outlaws in round four of the 2021 Royal London Cup campaign.

Leicestershire head into the clash on the back of successive defeats in the competition, losing out most recently to Warwickshire at Edgbaston on Thursday, July 29.

Rishi Patel (118, 107b) and Harry Swindells (69, 71b) forged a record-breaking first wicket partnership for Leicestershire against Warwickshire in List A cricket, but the young attack of the hosts fought back to claim victory in the West Midlands.

Notts’ most recent game resulted in a washout, at Welbeck CC, against the travelling Somerset, with just 21 overs of the first innings bowled.

Their fixture prior ended in defeat against Group B leaders, Surrey, with the hosts running out victorious by 33 runs via the DLS method.

Former Foxes loanee, Ben Slater, top scored in the fixture with a 48-ball 69 at the top of the order for the Outlaws.

Last Time We Met 

The two teams last met in the 50 over competition on Friday, April 26, 2019, which saw a rain-affected match at Trent Bridge go the way of the hosts by 87 runs via the DLS method.

Having won the toss, Foxes skipper Paul Horton’s decision to insert Nottinghamshire backfired with the home team racking up 433-7 from their 50 overs, with all of their top six making centuries. Foxes fans will be pleased to know that none of them are available for Nottinghamshire for this match. With the ball, Gavin Griffiths (3-92) took three wickets while the most economical was Colin Ackermann (1-51). 

In reply, the Running Foxes got off to a perfect start with a century opening partnership recorded in just 13 overs - Harry Dearden (74, 70b) and Mark Cosgrove (59, 43b) getting us off to a flier. However, that was as good as it got and we slid from 210-3 to 259 all out, with Luke Fletcher (3-53) and Matt Carter (2-26) doing most of the damage for the Outlaws.

However, in T20, we have met Nottinghamshire more recently and in fact got the better of them in our last encounter several weeks ago. Batting first, Notts made 173 all out with Naveen and Ackermann sharing six wickets apiece, while a pair of high strike-rate 42s from Josh Inglis and Arron Lilley put the Running Foxes in control in their chase, which was finished with two balls to spare.

Head to Head 

Marcus Harris vs Ben Slater

Our Australian overseas star, Marcus Harris, has already shown his class in this competition so far, racking up 216 runs already in three matches and recording his first ever List A century. He’s been an asset for us all season with his run scoring, also leading the Leicestershire run charts in the LV= County Championship as well.

Fellow left-hander Ben Slater enjoyed a brief loan spell at the Uptonsteel County Ground last season, famously making a career-best on his debut, and will open the batting for Nottinghamshire tomorrow. Quite incredibly, Slater is now averaging 58.32 in List A cricket at a strike rate of 87.85, and will be hoping to pass 2,000 runs in the format during this season - he will clearly be a key wicket for the Running Foxes bowlers to look for on Sunday.

Leicestershire Foxes Squad

Paul Nixon makes just one change to the Foxes squad, with Dieter Klein missing out after suffering a hamstring injury in the defeat at Edgbaston.

Leicestershire Foxes from 13: Rehan Ahmed, Ed Barnes, Gavin Griffiths, Marcus Harris, Lewis Hill (C, wk), Louis Kimber, Arron Lilley, Ben Mike, Rishi Patel, George Rhodes, Harry Swindells (wk), Roman Walker, Chris Wright.