T20 Blast Preview: Derbyshire Falcons v Yorkshire Vikings

T20 Blast Preview: Derbyshire Falcons v Yorkshire Vikings

It's a sellout at the outground, with the Falcons welcoming the Vikings to Chesterfield for what looks set to be a thrilling encounter.

After a hard fought narrow defeat to Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge last night that saw them officially out of the T20 Blast, Derbyshire Falcons now travel North to Chesterfield to meet the Yorkshire Vikings. Queens Park is a beautiful out ground that always attracts a good crowd for this fixture and news this morning is that the day is sold out.

The Natwest T20 Blast is reaching the latter stages of the first round and Derbyshire Falcons are one of the teams who have no chance of progressing to round two. Yorkshire have won just four games from their ten, so they have work to do but they are still in with a shot.

Andrew Gale’s men won the reverse of this fixture, at Headingley back in May, but despite overall struggles the Falcons have had some bright moments since then and have produced a couple of surprises. The Vikings need to win all of their remaining games to go through, but they mustn’t assume this is a guaranteed win.

The Vikings travel to Chesterfield, which is so close to South Yorkshire it is almost a home tie for both sides, with a couple of world cup winning Aussies in their mix as well as the ever reliable Jonny Bairstow. Derbyshire have the impressive Hamish Rutherford, Aussie T20 specialist Nathan Rimmington and Shiv Thakor, who took 3 wickets for just 25 runs at Trent Bridge.

It may not be a top of the table clash, but with a fantastic crowd, warm weather and beautiful surroundings this is bound to be a great day regardless of the result.

Key Men

A fantastic acquisition for the Falcons, Hamish Rutherford has been consistently good at the top of the order. His 62 against Notts Outlaws at Trent Bridge set up the side for a good fight back that was almost successful. Yorkshire can never been counted out of any competition, so Rutherford’s skills will be needed again tomorrow.

He may be out of favour with the England set up, but Jonny Bairstow is in fine form for his county and, like Rutherford for the Falcons, is the man who can make or break an innings. His 92 against Durham took the Vikings from a sorry looking 28/3 to a five-wicket victory. If Yorkshire want to go through to the next stage, that’s the type of form they’ll need.

Team News

Graeme Welch has named an unchanged squad from that which was narrowly defeated by Notts at Trent Bridge on Friday night.

Derbyshire squad: Wes Durston (captain), Greg Cork, Scott Elstone, Billy Godleman, Alex Hughes, Chesney Hughes, Tom Knight, Wayne Madsen, Tom Poynton (wicketkeeper), Nathan Rimmington, Hamish Rutherford, Ben Slater, Shiv Thakor

Yorkshire are yet to announce their squad, but they will be without Joe Root, Adam Lyth and Gary Ballance due to their international commitments.

Yorkshire squad: TBA

Weather and Conditions

We may have a delayed start, due to some rain in early afternoon, but it will be warm. Muggy conditions and a wet ground should keep the bowlers happy.

Date: Sunday 12th July

Ground: Queens Park, Chesterfield

Time: 2:30pm

Umpires: Neil Bainton & Richard Kettleborough

Odds (via SkyBet): Derbyshire 2/1, Yorkshire 2/5

 

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