Lancashire are hoping to bounce back from a resounding
defeat against Essex, as they take on Middlesex in the Royal London One-Day Cup
in their first visit to Blackpool since 2011.
It is the first List A fixture between these two sides at
Stanley Park since 1988 in the Refuge Assurance League, a match which
Lancashire won by 52 runs. The Red Rose were beaten comfortably at Chelmsford
earlier this week when Essex chased a measly target of 162 with seven wickets
and 17 overs to spare and so there is plenty of room for improvement for Ashley
Giles’s side.
Middlesex are yet to open their 50-over campaign after a
washout against Warwickshire at Lord’s and Lancashire’s first fixture of the
tournament against Sussex at Horsham was also abandoned without a ball being
bowled.
Lancashire's last visit to Stanley Park in 2011 resulted in an important victory against Worcestershire in the County Championship, a win which went a long way towards securing the Division One title for the first time in 77 years for the Red Rose. Blackpool-born Steven Croft hit a hundred in the first innings and a half-century in the second, as Lancashire secured a 98-run win.
Key Players:
Ashwell Prince
had a nightmare start to the 50-over campaign after being bowled third ball of
Lancashire’s innings, but his form across the board has been inspirational this
season. His liking for outgrounds has been a prominent feature of his success
this year and has seen the South-African score double-hundreds at Southport and
most recently Colwyn Bay, where he recorded a career-best 261 against
Glamorgan.
Prince was the first player to score 1,000 runs this season
and has taken his Championship tally to 1,311 runs at an average of 81.94 after
his astonishing and record-breaking partnership with countryman Alviro
Petersen.
Junaid Khan has
spent two seasons at Lancashire as a Twenty20 specialist bowler and it will
certainly feel strange for the Red Rose to be playing against the left-arm
seamer. The Pakistan international has represented his country in 52 ODI’s
claiming 78 wickets and has been likened for some time to one of the best
bowlers to play for Lancashire in Wasim Akram.
His lethal death bowling was a pivotal asset when he played
for Lancashire, but Junaid must now exploit his knowledge of his former
teammates to get Middlesex’s campaign up and running with a win at Stanley
Park.
Team News:
Lancashire 14-man squad:
Steven Croft (c), Tom Bailey, Karl Brown, Jordan Clark, Alex Davies (w/k),
James Faulkner, Gavin Griffiths, Paul Horton, Kyle Jarvis, Arron Lilley, Stephen
Parry, Alviro Petersen, Ashwell Prince, Luke Procter.
Middlesex 15-man
squad: Eoin Morgan (c), Nick Compton, Neil Dexter, James Franklin, Nick
Gubbins, James Harris, Junaid Khan, Dawid Malan, Ravi Patel, Ollie Rayner, Sam
Robson, Toby Roland-Jones, Gurit Sandhu, John Simpson, Paul Stirling
Match Information:
Weather and
conditions: Dry and bright start to the match with a chance of rain in the
afternoon. For a full weather forecast click here.
Ground: Stanley
Park, Blackpool
Start time: 10.30am
Umpires: Mark
Benson, Jeremy Lloyds
Match odds: Lancashire,
Middlesex
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