Lancashire Lightning enter a pivotal run of matches in the NatWest T20 Blast, as they look to turn around their indifferent form in the hope of launching a successful defence of their T20 crown.
With two wins in seven group games, Ashley Giles' side know that they need to put together a late resurgence, although they face another stern test against a very strong Worcestershire side, who are third in the North Group with nine points, but behind Northamptonshire Steelbacks and Birmingham Bears on net run rate.
Lancashire suffered their fourth Twenty20 defeat of the season against Birmingham by 18 runs on D/L method, leaving very little margin for error for the rest of the campaign. Martin Guptill, who is playing in his final game for Lancashire, will be hoping to leave the Red Rose with a match-winning performance after scoring 78 against Durham on debut.
Part of Lancashire's 14-man squad for this match is 19-year-old wicketkeeper Tom Moores, son of former coach Peter, who has been recruited on an emergency loan deal. Moores will fill the void left by Alex Davies, who had surgery for his knee injury on Tuesday, with captain Steven Croft having the option to retain the gloves in the four-day contest.
Croft is a key bowling option in limited-overs matches and, with Jos Buttler returning to international duty, Lancashire needed to recruit a long term replacement. Worcestershire have also been hit by England's ODI series against Sri Lanka, losing all-rounder Moeen Ali from the squad that was beaten at New Road by Nottinghamshire Outlaws.
Lancashire 14-man squad: Steven Croft (c), Karl Brown, Nathan Buck, Jordan Clark, George Edwards, Martin Guptill, Arron Lilley, Liam Livingstone, Saqib Mahmood, Tom Moores, Matthew Parkinson, Stephen Parry, Luke Procter, Alviro Petersen.
Worcestershire 13-man squad: Daryll Mitchel (c), Ed Barnard, Joe Clarke, Ben Cox, Brett D'Oliveira, Matt Henry, Alexi Kervezee, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Joe Leach, George Rhodes, Chris Russell, Jack Shantry, Ross Whitely.
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