New Zealand superstar Brendon McCullum is due to make his debut for the Birmingham Bears at Emirates Old Trafford in the first meeting between the 2014 finalists since last year's clash at Edgbaston.
Warwickshire emerged as the narrow winners of last year's final on home soil by a margin of just four runs and Lancashire will be seeking revenge after the Bears denied them a maiden T20 success on their fifth appearance at Finals Day.
McCullum recently appeared for his country on this ground against England in the one-off InternationalT20 match which the home side won by 56 runs at Old Trafford. The Kiwi keeper-batsman hit 35 in only 15 balls, an innings which included two fours and four sixes and so it is fair to say that McCullum will have his eye in on this ground heading into this fixture.
Lancashire have rediscovered the success which enabled them to reach the final in 2014, beating Durham at Chester-le-Street by six wickets with 11 balls to spare and a second win in as many days could launch them towards the top of table, as they look to consolidate a place in the top four and ultimately qualify for the knockout stages for the second season in a row.
Ashwell Prince played a key hand in Lancashire's victory yesterday evening with his second fifty of the summer against Durham in his innings of 63 not out. Lancashire's bowlers also gave a promising display, reducing the home side to 141 all out after they had made a blistering start in the first six overs.
The bowlers will need to be in good form once more if they are to contain the threat of McCullum and a generally dominant Warwickshire batting line-up and victory could see Lancashire leapfrog their opponents in the North Group.
Key Players:
There is no doubting that Brendon McCullum is expected to deliver a big performance this evening and his recent innings at Old Trafford suggests he will be aiming to punish the Lancashire attack at the top of the innings. McCullum's record in this format is second-to-none and a return of more than 6,000 runs in Twenty20 cricket has seen him represent some of cricket's biggest franchises.
The New Zealander has scored 2,140 runs in 71 Twenty20 appearances for his country at an average of 35.66 and McCullum's record of 6,041 runs is the third-highest in the history of this format behind only Brad Hodge and Chris Gayle. His pedigree in the shortest format of the game has seen him represent Chennai Super Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders and Glamorgan.
In a match which is likely to be dominated by hard hitting and big totals, economical bowlers such as Arron Lilley will be worth their wight in gold. Lilley has by no means been a prolific performer in the T20 Blast, but his consistency has certainly gone unnoticed. A return of eight wickets at an average of 20.25 has been encouraging for Lancashire and Lilley's all-round displays this season has been pleasing for the Red Rose faithful.
Lilley's economy rate of 6.48 is the best of any Lancashire bowler in this format and his ability to score runs quickly at the end of the innings may be crucial if the Lightning go out with the intention of swinging from the hip and scoring runs quickly without fear, the tactic which will surely be implemented by McCullum.
Team News:
Lancashire are likely to name the same squad from their trip to Durham from yesterday evening, which is as follows:
Lancashire (predicted) 13-man squad: Steven Croft (c), Tom Bailey, Karl Brown, Jordan Clark, Alex Davies (w/k), James Faulkner, Paul Horton, Kyle Jarvis, Arron Lilley, Liam Livingstone, Saqib Mahmood, Stephen Parry, Ashwell Prince.
The visitors have a number of potential match-winners in their ranks and also a number of players who delivered in the final against Lancashire last season. Laurie Evans hit 53 in 30 balls in Warwickshire's innings and their leading wicket-taker in this format so far, Oliver Hannon-Dalby, claimed 3-31 at Edgbaston to deny Lancashire victory.
Warwickshire 13-man squad: Varun Chopra (c), Tim Ambrose (w/k), Rikki Clarke, Laurie Evans, Recordo Gordon, Oliver Hannon-Dalby, Ateeq Javid, Tom Lewis, Brendon McCullum, Jeetan Patel, William Porterfield, Josh Poysden Boyd Rankin.
Match Information:
Weather and conditions: There is no rain forecast for this evening's fixture and it is likely that the side who wins the toss will bat first and look to post in excess of 180. For a full weather forecast click here.
Ground: Emirates Old Trafford
Start time: 6.30pm
Umpires: David Milns, Steve O'Shaughnessy
Match odds (SkyBet): Lancashire 5/4, Warwickshire 8/13
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