Vitality Blast 2018 Yorkshire vs Lancashire Predicted Playing XI and Match Preview
Lancashire Lightning got the better of Yorkshire Vikings in their encounter last month. The latter will now look to avenge their defeat from last time around when the two teams face-off for the second time in the North Group fixture of the Vitality Blast 2018 on Thursday, August 9 at Headingley in Leeds. Both teams have won 12 times each in the 26 matches they have played against each other while two of those matches have resulted in a tie. While rain affected the clash earlier this season at Manchester, Lancashire pulled off a thrilling one-run victory over Yorkshire.
Stat: Yorkshire Vikings will be playing this match at home and they have an incredible record at this venue. They have won 15 of the last 17 completed T20 matches at Headingley which includes four out of the five they have played here so far this season.
Yorkshire Vikings: Yorks have won six and lost four out of the ten matches they have played so far and are currently ranked third in the North Group standings with 12 points.
With the bat, Kane Williamson cracked an unbeaten 52 in the previous game against Northamptonshire to star in his side's six-wicket win, and Adam Lyth who is currently their leading run scorer with 277 runs in ten matches will be the key men in this batting line-up.
With the ball, skipper Steven Patterson has been their most successful bowler with ten wickets in as many matches. David Willey and Azeem Rafiq are the other big threats in this bowling attack. The former has done a good job for England in T20Is and the onus will be on him to strike early with the ball.
Expected Playing XI: Steven Patterson (C), Jack Brooks, Adam Lyth, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, David Willey, Kane Williamson, Gary Ballance, Harry Brook, Jonathan Tattersall, Jordan Thompson and Azeem Rafiq.
Lancashire Lightning: Lancashire have done all right up till now and they find themselves at fourth place in a highly competitive North Group with five wins and four losses in 10 matches. Their batting seems to have no major concerns at the moment but they will need to work on their bowling a bit more as the tournament approaches its business end.
With the bat, Alex Davies recently blitzed a 56-ball 94 against Leicestershire. The opening batsman is among the leading run-getters of the season with 382 runs in 8 innings. Apart from him, Lancs will also look to the likes of Dane Vilas and Karl Brown to score the big runs.
With the ball, Toby Lester has taken the most wickets for Lancashire this season and the team will want him to get some early breakthroughs. Matthew Parkinson and James Faulkner have also done a pretty decent job so far. But they were unable to stop the flow of runs as the team conceded 170+ scores to the opposition in the past few matches. This might be an area of concern for the skipper.
Expected Playing XI: Dane Vilas (C), Steven Croft, James Faulkner, Jordan Clark, Mark Watt, Toby Lester, Matthew Parkinson, Alex Davies, Karl Brown, Arron Lilley and Josh Bohannon.