View on the opposition - Lancashire Lightning
Tue 17 Jul 2018
In the fifth of a series of views on the opposition from the ECB Reporters Network, we gain some insight on Lancashire Lightning.
T20 record: Winners in 2015, beating Northamptonshire in the final at Edgbaston. That was one of three final appearances (2005 and 2014 the others), while the Lightning have reached Finals Day six times in all.
Last season: Lancashire finished seventh in the North Group, winning five matches and losing six. They also played out a Roses tie at Emirates Old Trafford and had two No Results.
Captain: Liam Livingstone.
Overseas players: All-rounder James Faulkner, a Blast winner in 2015, returns to join fellow Australian Joe Mennie, the seamer who was signed for all formats by the Red Rose this summer.
Big hitter: Two-time England T20 international Liam Livingstone takes charge of the Lightning for the first time in T20 cricket. The 24-year-old, who has a 21-ball fifty to his name, opened the batting last year and has power and innovation similar to that of Jos Buttler, whose availability will by stymied by international cricket. But Livingstone has plenty to prove in T20s having only scored two fifties in 42 career appearances. His ever-improving off-spinners will be a valuable weapon for the Lightning, especially at Old Trafford where the pitches turn and the boundary rope is pushed right out.
Key Bowler: Lions leg-spinner Matthew Parkinson is fast becoming a rising star of English cricket. Described by Livingstone as his ‘go to man’ with the white ball at present, the 21-year-old debuted in T20 midway through last season’s Blast and took 14 wickets from nine matches with a superb economy rate 6.06 - one of the best in the competition. Parkinson took 18 wickets in the most recent Royal London One-Day Cup, and even bowled at the death. The Boltonian, whose twin brother Callum bowls left-arm spin for Leicestershire, can’t be a million miles away from full England honours in all forms of the game.
Wild card: Cumbrian all-rounder Jordan Clark has been around for some time at Emirates Old Trafford, taking a triple wicket maiden in the 2014 quarter-final against Glamorgan to turn that game on its head. The hard-hitting middle to lower order batsman and seamer, who debuted in the Blast back in 2011, hasn’t really hit top form consistently in a campaign yet. But improved form in the Championship and one-day cricket over the last couple of years leads you to believe this summer could be the one for the 27-year-old. Like Parkinson, Clark will come up against his brother in the Blast, with Graham a top order batsman at Durham.
