The bottom team in the group thus beat the top side and Derbyshire, a better side than Middlesex, most hope to turn things on their head similarly tomorrow.
A sign of the respective depths of each side is that Lancashire have announced the following 16, which doesn't include Bohannon, Balderson, Lamb, Jennings and Mahmood:
Livingstone, Bailey, Bell, Blatherwick, Buttler, Croft, de Grandhomme, Gleeson, Hartley, Jones, Mitchell, Parkinson, Salt, Vilas, Wells, Wood
Derbyshire are likely to be unchanged the side that one the last two games so convincingly.
Came, Reece, Ali, du Plooy, Madsen, Guest, McKiernan, Chappell, Thomson, Scrimshaw, Khan
Old Trafford is a tough place to go and win, but we acquitted ourselves pretty well against Lancashire in the tournament opener, without playing anywhere near our best.
Logic suggests a win for the red rose county, but if Derbyshire turn up and play at their best, they have the talent to turn this game on its head.
My head says it will be a game too far and we will regret losing the home game to Northamptonshire and dropping the point at Durham.
But who knows?
Looking at the table and the remaining fixtures it looks like in order to qualify for the quarter finals it would be Lancashire we would need to nudge out of that top 4, so tonight's match is, of course massive.
ReplyDeleteAlmost by default we seemed to have stumbled upon our best T20 team, but I do worry if one of our 5 bowlers gets taken down our options are an out of sorts Reece or a risky Du Plooy/Madsen.
Looks like there might be rain around too, so the toss could be vital. Can we defy the odds and take down another of the big guns? I really hope so but my head says this might be a step too far....
Yes, Steve, that Middlesex win over Surrey shows that anything can happen in the T20. So, I'm optimistic that we can win tonight. All the parts of the team have, finally, clicked together, and we look like a side that believes it can win. What's been encouraging in the last few games is that when some of the top six go for low scores, instead of collapsing, others step up to the plate. Let's not forget that we beat Lancs at Derby last year when Big George conceded just five off the final over.
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