Pettini set for Students test

Mark Pettini is in line for his Leicestershire debut in the first competitive game of the 2016 season at Loughborough MCCU on Monday (11am start).

County have had excellent preparation for the 2016 campaign including a tour to Dubai and plenty of fixtures in the UK, including an intra-squad match held on Loughborough’s campus last week.

New signing Pettini is keen for everybody to hit the ground running ahead of the opening Specsavers County Championship match at Glamorgan on Sunday, April 17 and fully expects a tough examination against the Students.

Pettini said: “It was good that Loughborough let us go to play an intra-squad game last week. It was better for us to have match practice rather than having net sessions, and the players made the most of it. The batsmen scored runs and the bowlers got plenty of overs under their belt.

“We’re now looking to the first games at Loughborough and Glamorgan. One thing I have really learned in the last couple of years, and I’m now trying to drum in to the younger guys here at Leicestershire, is that you have to take your chance when you’re given it in sport.

“Everyone in the squad has the first chance to cement a place in the side for the rest of the summer and win games for the team, so we’re looking for a good start.

“Playing against first-class counties is always the highlight of the year for universities and we expect Loughborough to come really hard at us for three days. That’s only good for us as it will be more realistic as to what we can expect in the Specsavers County Championship.”

The university match has been moved to the Haslegrave Ground on Loughborough’s campus while the Fischer County Ground, Grace Road undergoes some finishing touches before the first Specsavers County Championship game against Kent on Sunday, April 24.

Several changes to the ground are being made, including the installation of six floodlights, new radio boxes, a television gantry and seating on the Maurice Burrows Balcony, the rebuilding of the Milligan Road wall and the installation of a new w-fi system.

Pettini thinks it will make a big difference and is impressed by the scale of the changes that are occurring. He said: “The ground is looking fantastic, and from a playing point of view it has to be said the outfield and square looks in really good nick as well.

“Friday night NatWest T20 Blast games under floodlights will be great – it should be a special summer from that point of view, a buzzing atmosphere can add 10% to a player’s performance levels.”

Pettini is part of a 13-man squad for the trip to Loughborough alongside fellow new signings Paul Horton and Neil Dexter. Mark Cosgrove and Clint McKay also arrived in the UK this week and will travel to Loughborough for the game.

Leicestershire could come across some familiar faces at the Haselgrave Ground including Michael Burgess, who is completing his studies at Loughborough before returning to the FCG.

Burgess made 51 as Loughborough MCCU drew their most recent first-class game at Kent, while former Leicestershire Second XI players Basil Akram and Charlie Lowen have also been in fine form.

Akram made a stunning 160 in the university’s first-class draw at Surrey and followed that up with another hundred against Kent. Lowen made half-centuries in both of those fixtures, so Loughborough have plenty of players in good form going into the contest.

Leicestershire (from): Cosgrove (capt), Horton (vice capt), O’Brien (w/k), Robson, Dexter, Pettini, Ali, White, Raine, McKay, Naik, Shreck, Chappell.