Lancashire Lightning travel to Edgbaston on Sunday to take on the Birmingham Bears in the NatWest T20 Blast, as they prepare to visit the ground that they lifted the Twenty20 trophy on last summer.
A truncated start to Lancashire's reign as Twenty20 champions has seen high, lows and most recently a washout when they were due to take on Northamptonshire Steelbacks at Old Trafford in a repeat of last year's final. However, their inconsistency has resulted in Ashley Giles' side making a stuttered start at defending their crown.
The abandoned match against Northants left Lancashire floating in mid-table after six matches, having won two games against rivals Yorkshire and Leicestershire in a rain-affected match on home soil. Lancashire have already played five matches at home in the T20 format this season, which means the Lightning will play the first game in a run of six matches away from home in this competition, with only one other Twenty20 match taking place at Old Trafford in the meantime.
Lancashire's last match against the Bears proved to be a vital one in the Red Rose's journey to lifting the trophy in August last season. A superb all-round display from stand-in skipper Steven Croft led his side to a tense victory at Edgbaston by eight runs against a Birmingham side that had beaten Lancashire in the final the previous season.
In that match, Croft scored 64 from 51 balls and took two wickets, including the prized scalp of none other than Brendon McCullum, as well taking a typically outrageous catch at backward point. The two points earned from that memorable night in Birmingham helped Lancashire to progress to the quarter-finals by the narrowest of margins on net run rate, before going on to beat Hampshire and Northants on Finals Day at the same ground.
The Bears prepared for their hosting of Lancashire with a win on the road against Derbyshire Falcons, with Ateeq Javid hitting the last ball for four to earn Birmingham their third win of the campaign by four wickets. Captain Ian Bell led the way with 64 from 51 balls, as the Bears reached their target of 142 from the final ball of their run-chase.
Birmingham squad: TBC
Lancashire 14-man squad: Steven Croft (c), Karl Brown, Nathan Buck, Jos Buttler, Jordan Clark, George Edwards, Martin Guptill, Rob Jones, Arron Lilley, Liam Livingstone, Matthew Parkinson, Stephen Parry, Luke Procter, Neil Wagner.
No comments:
Post a Comment