MATCH PREVIEW: Lancashire Lightning v Durham
Lancashire’s Blast campaign begins at a venue which has served them so well down the years.
Lancashire Lightning v Durham
Vitality Blast, North Group
Thursday May 30, 2024, 7pm
Emirates Old Trafford
MATCH DAY GUIDE
It is remarkable to think that in the last three seasons of the Vitality Blast, the Red Rose county have only lost one match at our beloved Emirates Old Trafford home. That was last year’s quarter-final clash with Surrey.
In that same timeframe, the Lightning have won 16 matches.
Experienced Australian all-rounder Chris Green will make his debut for the county alongside fellow overseas player, the New Zealand batter Tom Bruce.
Keaton Jennings will also captain Lancashire for the first time in T20 cricket having missed the entire Blast campaign last season because of a hamstring injury.
Jennings will face his former county for the second time in as many weeks having scored back-to-back hundreds against them in a Championship victory at Blackpool.
A similar result under the lights at headquarters would be lovely, thank you very much!
This is the second match of a T20 double header at Emirates Old Trafford, Lancashire Thunder facing Central Sparks in the Charlotte Edwards Cup at 1pm.
Opposition:
Durham are one of five counties who are without a Blast title.
Since the competition’s inception back in 2003, only them, Derbyshire, Glamorgan, Gloucestershire and Yorkshire have never tasted success in this competition.
But hopes are high in the North East that things can change this year.
Captained by opening batter Alex Lees and coached by Ryan Campbell, they have definite proof to back up their argument that things are looking good.
In March, whilst on pre-season in Zimbabwe, they won that country’s domestic T20 title following an invitation to take part.
Durham’s squad has been bolstered by signings both domestic and overseas.
In the winter, they added Leicestershire duo Colin Ackermann and Callum Parkinson to their squad, the former a Dutch international batting all-rounder and the latter an ex-Lancashire junior left-arm spinner.
Overseas wise, they have signed title-winning Australian duo Ashton Turner and Ben Dwarshuis.
Like Ackermann, Turner is a batting all-rounder. He returns to Durham having played for them previously in the Blast and is the captain of the Perth Scorchers, who have won multiple Big Bash titles in Australia.
Left-arm fast bowler Dwarshuis has won the same competition in the colours of the Sydney Sixers. He was the joint third leading wicket-taker in the most recent BBL campaign over the winter with 17.
Both have played limited overs international cricket.
They have reached Finals Day twice (2008 and 2016) and finished seventh in last season’s North Group.
Wicketkeeper-batter Ollie Robinson (380) was their leading run-scorer in last year’s Blast, while leg-spinner Nathan Sowter (24) was their leading wicket-taker.
Opposition player to watch:
Wicketkeeper-batter Ollie Robinson is just 16 runs away from 1,000 in his T20 career.
Robinson, the former Kent gloveman, scored an unbeaten 171 in the Championship defeat against these two counties at Blackpool earlier this month.
The 25-year-old opened the batting during Durham’s T20 success in Zimbabwe in March and was their leading run-scorer with four fifties in last season’s Blast.
He is a player who has deceptive power, a classy player and lovely timer of the ball.
Robinson batted in the middle order for Durham in T20 cricket last year, so it will be interesting to see whether his pre-season success in Africa brings about a change and he ends up facing the new ball against the Lightning.
Previous meeting:
These two counties shared victories in last season’s Blast.
Durham won the first game at the Riverside at the start of June, comfortably chasing a 153 target. But the Lightning got revenge two-and-a-half-weeks later at Emirates Old Trafford, winning by seven runs on DLS.
Lancashire posted a commanding 195-7 batting first, including Daryl Mitchell’s 60 added to 56 from Luke Wells. Both men faced 39 balls from the middle order.
Lancashire had to recover from 6-2 and later 57-3 in the seventh over, with Mitchell and Wells sharing 67 in six overs for the fourth wicket to revive the innings.
Liam Livingstone then added late impetus with two sixes in 33.
Durham then started in commanding fashion at 125-0 in the 14th over, with Michael Jones making 50 and captain Alex Lees 78. But, despite that, they never really broke free.
And Wells twice and Mitchell once struck three times quickly, leaving the score at 150-3 after 17 overs when rain arrived and, ultimately, gave Lancashire the victory and strengthened their quarter-final hopes.
What they said:
Keaton Jennings is relishing the prospect of leading a new-look Lancashire Lightning into this year’s Vitality Blast.
Batter Jennings knows full well that his team will be minus the likes of Jos Buttler, Tom Hartley, Liam Livingstone and Phil Salt for at least the first half of the campaign because of their involvement at the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean.
The quartet played a lot of last season’s Blast - Livingstone captained, for example, with Jennings unavailable.
This year, things are different. Lancashire still have plenty of experience to call upon, including overseas duo Tom Bruce and Chris Green. Steven Croft is also due to step back into his role of player rather than coach for this competition.
It was put to Jennings that the pressure might be off his side somewhat given the difference in personnel from last season. It wasn’t a notion that he agreed with.
“No,” he said.
“When you come to Emirates Old Trafford, you play for Lancashire Cricket. There is a level of expectation.
“We can go out with a really inexperienced side and everybody injured and there’s still a level of expectation. That’s the reality of where we play, which is amazing, and it’s the reality of pulling on a Lancashire shirt.
“I love the fact there’s an expectation level for us to go out and perform. It’s about winning games of cricket.”
Jennings continued: “It looks different to last season, which will be good. There will be some youth and some older heads. We’ll get young Crofty back in!
“The boys are really looking forward to it. It’s a part of the season that brings some freshness and a completely different feel.
“It’s exciting because you’ve got some guys at one end of their career - some who have played in the IPL - and then other guys starting off.
“Mitch Stanley bowled quickly in the twos last week, hopefully Saqqy’s not far away, Woody’s in and around.
“We’ve got some really high-quality cricketers knocking around. But the side looked different last year. That doesn’t necessarily mean we will win or we won’t win. We have a group of players who are excited to go out and play the best they can.
“I’m really excited to get in the reds and to get the boys going.”
Australian off-spinning all-rounder Green arrived in the North West at the weekend. Jennings added: “It’s a new fresh face. He’s really keen to get going, which is awesome.”
How’s Stat!
Lancashire have reached Finals Day on nine occasions; 2004, 2005, 2007, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2020 and 2022.
Only Hampshire (10) have reached more.