Lancashire have fond memories of four-day cricket against Northamptonshire. In 2013, they beat them twice on their way to securing the Division Two title and the Red Rose are hoping to secure victory at Old Trafford to consolidate their position at the top of the table.
In 2013, Ashwell Prince and Steven Croft both recorded career-best scores in a memorable innings victory on home soil, but in the reverse fixture this season at Wantage Road, the sides contested an evenly fought match, one which ended in a high-scoring draw.
Northamptonshire started the season as contenders to be promoted alongside Lancashire, but a solitary win leaves them in fifth place on 79 points, with the Red Rose accumulating 131 points in nine matches, a 54-point lead over Surrey in second place heading into this batch of fixtures.
A mixture of success and failure in the T20 Blast has unfortunately been unable to match Lancashire's resounding success in red-ball cricket, but the ultimate goal of returning to the first division appears to be in the not-too-distant future for Ashley Giles's side.
Key Players:
Ashwell Prince scored 257 not out in 2013, the highest score of his first-class career against Northants and he has been the undisputed leader of Lancashire's top-order for this season and every year he has been a member of the squad. Recording over 1,000 runs year after year, Prince is well on his way to repeating this feat once more, accumulating 939 runs in nine LV= County Championship matches this season already.
Prince came close to beating his mammoth score against Northants this season when Lancashire met Derbyshire at Southport. On that occasion, Prince made a similarly impressive score of 230 and his tally of runs since the start of the 2014 season is greater than any player in the country, making him the jewel in Lancashire's crown.
Muhammad Azharullah has enjoyed a consistent season in all forms of cricket and played a prominent role in the Natwest T20 Blast encounter between these two sides at Wantage Road, claiming 3-28 to secure a narrow win for the home side. A return of 30 wickets at an average of 25.63 makes him one of the club's leading wicket takers behind only Rory Kleinveldt, who is absent for this fixture.
Team News:
Lancashire 13-man squad: Steven Croft (c), Tom Bailey, Karl Brown, Jordan Clark, Alex Davies (w/k), James Faulkner, Paul Horton, Kyle Jarvis, Simon Kerrigan, Arron Lilley Alviro Petersen, Ashwell Prince, Luke Procter.
Northamptonshire 12-man squad: Alex Wakely (c), Muhammad Azharullah, Kyle Coetzer, Steven Crook, Josh Cobb, Maurice Chambers, Ben Duckett, Rob Keogh, Richard Levi, Andrew Rossington (w/k), Olly Stone, Graeme White.
Match Information:
Weather and conditions: Glorious sunshine will grace Old Trafford for all four days of this game with temperatures approaching 30 degrees by the end of the week heading into the Roses T20 game on Friday. For a full weather forecast, click here.
Ground: Emirates Old Trafford
Start time: 11.00am
Umpires: Nigel Cowely, Russell Evans
Match odds (SkyBet): Lancashire 4/9, Northamptonshire 13/8
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