RLODC Preview: Warwickshire v Leicestershire

RLODC Preview: Warwickshire v Leicestershire

Pic courtesy of Youtube

Warwickshire come into Sunday’s match against Leicestershire sitting in third place in the North Group table. On Friday they achieved a thrilling away win against Durham, chasing down a challenging target of 300.

Their final group match will come on Thursday when they play Worcestershire, who currently sit one place above them, so a win against Leicestershire would leave the Bears well placed to qualify for the knockout stages as well as setting up an epic contest against their local rivals.

Leicestershire fans, on the other hand, already know their team won’t progress to the later stages. For them, the war is over. The Foxes are having a dismal tournament and currently prop up the table. They won their opening match but have now lost five in a row.

Key Men

Despite a rare failure against Durham, Warwickshire’s Sam Hain is averaging 96 in the tournament so far, batting at a strike rate of 93.83. For one so young, he has a great gift of being able to adapt his approach to the state of the game and the nature of the bowling. He deservedly received his first team cap earlier in the week, and will no doubt be keen to justify further the confidence displayed in him.

Two matches into the competition, Leicestershire took the decision to relieve Michael Carberry of the captaincy because – according to head coach Paul Nixon – he was “just slightly more reactive than proactive”. This has put massive pressure on his replacement, Paul Horton. So far, he has responded well both in his batting and his leadership. If his team are to maintain their focus when they have only professional pride to play for, it will be down to him as captain.

Team News

Warwickshire are unlikely to make changes from the team that defeated Durham. They have nine men who have played all six games, plus two others who have missed just one match. Unlike most teams they are playing with just one spinner in Jeetan Patel, but that approach seems to be working for them so don’t expect any new faces.

Warwickshire squad: tbc

Leicestershire have also been fairly predictable in selection, with nine players appearing either five or six times. Zak Chappell, Gavin Griffiths and Aadil Ali come into the squad for tomorrow’s fixture. Ned Eckersley and Varun Aaron are left out due to injuries and Ben Raine is once again being rested.

Leicestershire squad: Aadil Ali, Colin Ackermann, Zak Chappell, Mark Cosgrove, Harry Dearden, Cameron Delport, Neil Dexter, Gavin Griffiths, Lewis Hill, Paul Horton, Ateeq Javid, Dieter Klein, Callum Parkinson, Tom Wells

Form this season:

Warwickshire: W,N/R,W,N/R,W,L
Leicestershire: L,L,L,L,L,W

Weather and conditions

With sunny intervals and light winds, plus temperatures in the low 20s, conditions should be ideal both for playing and watching.

Edgbaston has experienced massive rainfall in the last week, such that Wednesday’s match against Northamptonshire was abandoned without a ball being bowled. If we still end up with a decent pitch, it will be thanks to the skills of groundsman Gary Barwell and his staff

Date: 3 June 2018
Time: 11.00 am
Ground: Stadium Edgbaston
Umpires: David Millns, Alex Wharf
Odds (SkyBet): Warwickshire 4/9; Leicestershire 7/4

NO COMMENTS

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.