County aim to carry on T20 momentum
LEICESTERSHIRE are hoping to carry momentum gained in their dominant Vitality Blast victory over Birmingham last Friday into key matches against Lancashire and Notts this week.
The Foxes face the Lightning at the Fischer County Ground today before travelling to Trent Bridge to take on the Outlaws on Friday.
They do so full of confidence after hammering last year’s finalists Birmingham by a massive 100 runs in front of a stunned Edgbaston crowd.
Every player made a contribution, with the highlights a stunning century from Ben Raine, his first for Leicestershire in any format, made off just 41 balls, and a T20 careerbest 4-20 for Callum Parkinson.
The hugely experienced Mark Cosgrove, who put on 142 with Raine for Leicestershire’s third wicket (a Foxes record), described Raine’s knock as the best T20 innings he had ever seen.
“From where I’m batting, at 10, I could sit back and enjoy it, the power and skill and execution made it a pleasure to watch, and I don’t think anyone in the ground will forget it,” agreed Parkinson.
Parkinson is also relishing watching and learning from the canny slow bowling of Afghan international Mohammad Nabi, who as well as picking up five wickets, has the best economy rate of the regular bowlers.
“He’s very hard to set yourself to hit, because he varies his speed so well. Bowling coach Matt Mason has encouraged all the bowlers to be brave in that respect, and we’re trying to take that on board.”
The visit of Lancashire means another opportunity for Parkinson to cross swords on the field with twin brother Matt, who picked up four Leicestershire wickets in the RL50 match between the counties at Oakham earlier this season.
“Matt is going well, he’s had another good start to the tournament, but we know the threat he brings and while it will be nice to see him, I’m hoping the lads get after him,’’ said Parkinson. This season, Leicestershire have beaten Northants and Birmingham away, and lost to Notts and Durham at home, but Nixon is hoping his players can reward the Fischer County Ground faithful with a strong performance against Lancashire.
“We didn’t have a great PowerPlay against Durham and then we played (leg-spinner) Imran Tahir poorly, but we’ve learned from that. Having Mohammad Nabi really contributing is very important, his bowling at Edgbaston was world class, helping Callum Parkinson and giving confidence to others: he’s very clever at reading batsmen, and varying his pace, length and line accordingly.
“Yes, Lancashire beat us at Oakham but this is a different format and a different pitch. We’re a more confident side now, the way we played at Edgbaston proved that, and we’ll be ready for them, as we will for Notts on Friday, where Cameron Delport made a brilliant century last season. We know we can beat these big clubs.”