The visiting Australian Test side might be under the pump heading into the fourth Test match at Trent Bridge, but their erstwhile colleague Glenn Maxwell is finally starting to enjoy his own stay in the British Isles. After five games of the Royal London One-Day Cup, he sits third on the overall run-scorers’ table, and has more runs than any other Yorkshire player. His unbeaten 65 against Durham at Chester-le-Street has put his county in a favourable position as the group stages draw to a close.
Maxwell endured a difficult T20 Blast campaign, which ended when he was dropped for the final game due to a breach of team discipline. It is a testament to the quality of Jason Gillespie’s man-management skills as well as to the player himself that he has been rehabilitated so quickly and successfully back into the first team.
The visitors Leicestershire are still searching for their first win of the competition. Their first game against Surrey was abandoned without a ball bowled; it may yet be the highlight of their tournament as Northamptonshire and then Gloucestershire have both helped themselves to all the points against the struggling county. The latter defeat was a thrilling one-run win for the west country side, as Leicestershire’s senior seam bowler Clint McKay was run out going for the second run they would need to tie the game. There are undoubtedly signs of hope for Leicestershire in white-ball cricket, but an encounter with a confident Yorkshire side, away from home, and with an in-form Glenn Maxwell at three, might be a little too soon for them to expect a great deal from this game.
Key Men
Gary Ballance has a right to be frustrated at his dropping from the England team, but he has responded in his return to domestic cricket in convincing fashion with 231 runs at an average of 57.75 so far. Only ten players in history have a better List A batting average than he does, and while Yorkshire have lost their star of the season Jonny Bairstow to the Test side, they are getting an extremely valuable batsman back in return.
The name of Clint McKay might not have crowds flooding through the turnstiles, but he has already picked up five wickets in Leicestershire’s two completed matches this season at an impressive average (13.4) and economy (3.35). The only one of the Midlands county’s bowlers (apart from part-timer Mark Cosgrove) with an economy under five, his experienced seam bowling would be an essential component of an unlikely Leicestershire win.
Team News
Yorkshire are without Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow as expected due to their Test preparations, and they will also be deprived of Liam Plunkett, called up as a potential replacement for the injured James Anderson. Gary Ballance is with the White Rose, though, and Adil Rashid has been given permission to play on Monday by the ECB as despite being in the England squad, he is not expected to play. Andrew Gale and Ryan Sidebottom are rested ahead of Yorkshire’s County Championship title push.
Yorkshire squad: Alex Lees (c), Gary Ballance, Tim Bresnan, Jack Brooks, Karl Carver, Matthew Fisher, Ryan Gibson, Andrew Hodd (wk), Jack Leaning, Glenn Maxwell, Steven Patterson, Richard Pyrah, Adil Rashid, Will Rhodes, James Waite.
Leicestershire have named a 14-man squad for Headingley ahead of a busy week in their One-Day Cup campaign. Agathangelou, Freckingham and Hill all join the squad after not featuring in either of their two previous one-day games.
Leicestershire squad: Mark Cosgrove (c), Andrea Agathangelou, Aadil Ali, Michael Burgess, Ned Eckersley, Ollie Freckingham, Lewis Hill, Clint McKay, Niall O’Brien (wk), Ben Raine, Angus Robson, Rob Sayer, Charlie Shreck, Rob Taylor.
Form
Yorkshire: WWLWA
Leicestershire: LLALW
Weather and conditions
There is rain scheduled around the lunch break, but it should not last long enough to make any difference to the players. Temperatures of around 20 will also be a marked improvement on recent weeks.
Date: 3rd August 2015
Time: 10:30 am
Ground: Headingley
Umpires: Jeff Evans, Mike Burns
Odds (SkyBet): Yorkshire 4/9, Leicestershire 7/4
