Worcestershire Rapids | T20 Match Preview - 18/06/2023

The Foxes are striving to make it back-to-back wins at Uptonsteel County Ground, following the seven-wicket win over Durham here nine days ago.

They’ll be looking to respond to a disappointing defeat to Yorkshire Vikings on Friday, having gone down by eight wickets despite scoring 195 at Headingley.

As well as the legendary Basil Brush, the Worcestershire Rapids are the visitors on Sunday afternoon. The Rapids are also looking to get back on track after losing out to rivals Birmingham Bears by 26 runs on Friday evening.

Tickets:

Advance tickets are available ONLINE until 10am on Sunday, before becoming exclusively available at the Curzon Road ticket office on the gate. Tickets are priced at £15 for Adults, £10 for Seniors and Young Adults, and £5 for Juniors (U16).

Last Time We Met:

It was Worcestershire’s day at New Road earlier on in the competition, taking victory by 33 runs.

Naseem Shah and Wiaan Mulder took two wickets each, but Kashif Ali’s 69, complemented by Usama Mir’s quickfire 32, took the hosts to 183/7 from their 20 overs.

In response, Nick Welch hit 37, and Rishi Patel 42 on his promotion to number three, but nobody could follow Ali’s lead, leaving Leicestershire 33 short.

Head-to-Head:

Middle order runs are the focus of this fixture’s battle. Unable to bowl with an injury niggle at the moment, there’s even more emphasis on Wiaan Mulder’s batting value to the Foxes.

31 off 17 balls on Friday evening, including 21 off one Ben Mike over, helped generate some mid-innings impetus alongside Louis Kimber “ taking the South African’s 2023 T20 average to 23.00 striking at 120.

As mentioned, Kashif Ali top scored in the previous meeting and has shown his worth to the Rapids in the middle throughout the opening half of the season “ averaging 25.42 while hitting at 131.85.

Squad:

Three changes to the matchday squad. Naveen-ul-Haq was forced off the field at Headingley after two overs of his spell, struggling with a knee injury, and is subsequently unavailable for selection. Josh Hull and Sam Evans also drop out of the 13.

Australian international Peter Handscomb comes into the T20 fold for the first time, while Ed Barnes and Tom Scriven are also added to the matchday squad.

Leicestershire Foxes: Ackermann*, Ahmed, Barnes, Finan, Handscomb, Kimber, Mulder, Parkinson, Patel, Salisbury, Scriven, Swindells+, Welch.