New Zealand fast bowler Neil Wagner is expected to make his debut for Lancashire when they face Nottinghamshire at Emirates Old Trafford on Sunday for the Red Rose's opening Specsavers County Championship match of 2016.
Nottinghamshire started their four-day campaign with a thrilling three-wicket victory against Surrey last week, which means Lancashire will start their season against the current leaders of Division One.
Debutant Wagner, as well as James Anderson and Kyle Jarvis, combine to make a ferocious seam attack for Ashley Giles's side, while Nottinghamshire travel to Manchester with Aussie paceman, Jackson Bird and Anderson's England teammate, Stuart Broad.
Former Lancashire all-rounder Steven Mullaney enters this match on the back of scoring the first century in County Championship cricket this season, while former Red Rose coach Peter Moores will also return to his old home as part of the Notts coaching staff.
Chasing 169 to beat Surrey in their first match of the season, Mick Newell's men made hard work of their run chase, but they were able to sneak over the line with a maximum of 24 points and secure the only victory in the first division from the first round of matches.
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| Teenager Haseeb Hameed was in tremendous form during Lancashire's pre-season matches. |
After two rain-affected pre-season matches against Somerset and Cambridge MCCU, Lancashire will be hoping to test their credentials against the quality that the first division has to offer, after they and Surrey took the lower tier by storm in 2015.
The Red Rose county will enter this summer hoping to avoid a third successive season of being relegated from Division One, a fate that they suffered in 2012 and 2014 after winning the Championship title in 2011.
Lancashire started their four-day campaign against Notts in 2014, where they were narrowly beaten by 45 runs at Trent Bridge despite a century from Ashwell Prince on the final day. An ever closer margin of defeat came when the sides met at Liverpool for the reverse fixture, with the visitors edging to a one-wicket win inside three days in a low-scoring match.
Lancashire 13-man squad: Steven Croft (c), James Anderson, Tom Bailey, Karl Brown, Alex Davies (wk) , Haseeb Hameed, Kyle Jarvis, Simon Kerrigan, Liam Livingstone, Alviro Petersen, Luke Procter, Luis Reece, Neil Wagner.
Nottinghamshire 13-man squad: Chris Read (c/wk), Jake Ball, Jackson Bird, Stuart Broad, Matt Carter, Harry Gurney, Brett Hutton, Michael Lumb, Steven Mullaney, Samit Patel, Greg Smith, Brendan Taylor, Riki Wessels.
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