Vitality Blast 2018: Durham vs Lancashire Preview and Playing XI
After facing defeat in their previous fixtures, Both Durham Jets and Lancashire Lightning will look to get back on the winning track when they clash in the North Group fixture of the Vitality Blast 2018 at the Old Trafford in Manchester on Tuesday, August 7.
Both teams have played 25 matches against each other in T20 tournaments. Lancashire has won 18 of those and Durham have won six with one of the matches have resulted in a tie.
Both the teams have played really well up till now and they will be aiming to win this match and boost their chances of a quarter-finals berth.
Durham Jets
Durham is currently second on the North Group points table with six wins and three losses from nine league matches.
They lost their last game by three wickets against Worcestershire. Jets had won five matches in a row before losing the previous one and most of those wins were secured by healthy margins. In last game against Worcestershire, Durham scored massive 194/7.
But their bowlers failed to defend that total as Worcestershire reached their target with two balls to spare.
With the bat, The opening pair of Tom Latham and Graham Clark has done a good job for the team so far. Latham is third on the Vitality Blast runs charts with 355 runs, which includes three fifties and he is coming off a quickfire 49-ball 78 in the previous game against Worcestershire. While his partner Clark is not too far behind with 322 runs and three fifties.
With the ball, James Weighell and Nathan Rimmington have taken 13 and 12 wickets respectively in nine matches and they seem to be the main threats for the opposition.
While Barry McCarthy, who claimed a four-wicket haul in his previous outing will once again be the go-to man for skipper Tom Latham.
Expected Playing XI: Tom Latham (C), Graham Clark, Ben Whitehead, Liam Trevaskis, Barry McCarthy, Ryan Davies, Chris Rushworth, Ryan Pringle, Stuart Poynter, James Weighell and Nathan Rimmington.
Lancashire Lightning
In a similar fashion, Lancashire has won five and lost three out of the nine matches they have played so far and are currently placed fourth in the North Group standings.
They were on a five-match winning streak before facing back to back defeats against Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire in their encounters. In their previous game against Leicestershire, Lancashire posted 190. But in reply Leicestershire raced to target with eight balls to spare.
With the bat, Alex Davies has struck four half-centuries in seven innings and is coming on the back of a magnificent 56-ball 94 against Leicestershire. While Davies is going to be the key man here and is expected to be benefited in Old Trafford.
With the ball, Toby Lester has been their best bowler in this season with 11 wickets in seven matches. Wjile Parkinson too has done a pretty decent job having taken nine wickets in eight matches at an acceptable economy rate of 8.05. They will mostly bank on these two to do the damage.
Expected Playing XI: Dane Vilas (C), Steven Croft, James Faulkner, Danny Lamb, Mark Watt, Toby Lester, Matthew Parkinson, Alex Davies, Karl Brown, Arron Lilley and Josh Bohannon.