Lancashire have named a 13-man squad for the penultimate home game of the season, as they prepare to take on Somerset in the Specsavers County Championship at Emirates Old Trafford on Wednesday.
Ashley Giles' side are without a Championship victory since the end of May, which means the Red Rose county are involved in an end-of-season battle to avoid relegation. Despite their poor form in red-ball cricket, Lancashire have a reasonable chance of retaining their first-division status, with both Hampshire and Nottinghamshire sitting below them in the relegation zone.
Lancashire, who are 16 points clear of Hampshire in eighth place, are looking to bounce back from a damaging defeat against Surrey at The Oval last week, with the southern county cruising to a ten-wicket win after bowling their opponents out for 287 and 230. The match featured a debut appearance for 20-year-old Rob Jones and a five-wicket haul for Arron Lilley, but Lancashire suffered a heavy defeat after Mark Footitt's career-best second-innings haul of 7-62 set up a straightforward win for Surrey, who now sit in third place two points behind Yorkshire.
The previous meeting with Somerset at Taunton saw a high-scoring draw at the start of May, with Liam Livingstone achieving a maiden first-class hundred for Lancashire in the process. Somerset were forced to follow on after Lancashire scored 493/9 in their first and only innings, but the hosts responded strongly to draw the match, led by county stalwart Marcus Trescothick, who - in contrast to Livingstone - scored his 60th first-class century.
Somerset enter this match on the back of a semi-final defeat in the One-Day Cup at the hands of Warwickshire, with Matthew Maynard's side occupying fourth place in the first division table heading into the closing stages of the season. As it stands, Somerset are no more likely to lift silverware than face relegation this campaign, with just eight points separating the sides heading into this fixture.
Lancashire suffered a blow this week when they discovered that James Anderson would not be available for the rest of the season, as he undergoes rehabilitation on a shoulder injury, while opening batsman and pace bowler, Tom Smith, remains sidelined by a hamstring problem.
Lancashire 13-man squad: Steven Croft (c/wk), Tom Bailey, Nathan Buck, Jordan Clark, Haseeb Hameed, Kyle Jarvis, Rob Jones, Simon Kerrigan, Toby Lester, Arron Lilley, Liam Livingstone, Alviro Petersen, Luke Procter.
Somerset 14-man squad: Chris Rogers (c), Tom Abell, Jim Allenby, Josh Davey, Ryan Davies (wk), Lewis Gregory, Tim Groenewald, James Hildreth, Joe Leach, Johann Myburgh, Craig Overton, Peter Trego, Marcus Trescothick, Roelof van der Merwe.
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