- Joined
- Oct 2, 2004
- Runs
- 218,058
There is a break in the Royal London One-Day Cup as Leicestershire Foxes' attentions turn towards the visit of Pakistan for a one-off T20 fixture tomorrow night.
Pakistan will be the second international T20 visitors to the Fischer County Ground in the format following the visit of India in 2011, and another large crowd is expected.
The fixture is Pakistan's only T20 warm-up before they take on England in an IT20 at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff on Sunday 5 May (5pm start).
Pakistan have been involved in two one-day friendlies before starting their tour in England. Their first stop-off was at Kent where they took on the Kent Spitfires at the County Ground, winning by 100 runs.
They then made their way up to Wantage Road, where Pakistan were victorious by eight wickets.
Their next and final stop before taking on the England national side is here at the Fischer County Ground tomorrow evening (6:30pm start), and it's a game that Leicestershire CCC Head Coach is relishing.
He said: “We are going to play a strong side against Pakistan, we are going to try and win every game that we play.
“It is an exciting time. The ground will be full, it will be a very vibrant and colourful crowd full of the wonderful people of Leicester who will come and support ourselves and Pakistan.
“It is exciting, and we look forward to hopefully a wonderful performance. It will also put us in good stead, again, to play against Northamptonshire at home on Saturday.
“We have got to finish this competition well because it has not gone our way this time – but we have been learning all the while.”
Alongside the arrival of the Pakistan national team, the Foxes will soon welcome back their Pakistan international; Muhammad Abbas, who is flying into the UK on Tuesday afternoon.
Abbas was called up for the ODI series between Pakistan and Australia in the UAE, and was part of the nation's World Cup training camp in Lahore, and his arrival will give the Foxes a boost.
Nixon said: “Muhammad Abbas arrives back on Tuesday, but it will be a little bit too close from flying to playing. He will build up for the next Specsavers County Championship game at Middlesex.
“It is brilliant to have him back, but you obviously want everybody to do well and play for their country whether they are our players or not. For us, we are delighted to have him back."
The arrival of Abbas is huge for the Foxes, with the bowler being available to open to attack as well as give other bowlers a chance to rest and play to the best of their ability.
Nixon said: “It is crucial that Mo [Muhammad Abbas] adds that bit quality and that belief in our game, and it also helps us rotate the squad that little bit more. We have a smaller squad, so the bowlers have heavy workloads.
“Ideally, he would have been here from ball one of the season, as that was the plan, but to win against Sussex the way we did without Muhammad gave us great confidence. But, he will be back and firing for the next [Specsavers] County Championship game at Lord's."
Leicestershire CCC have named a 13-man squad for the game, including hard-hitting batsman George Munsey. The 26-year old, who recently scored a quickfire century for Gloucestershire CCC Second XI, currently plays for Scotland and was previously on the staff at Northant CCC.
Leicestershire Foxes (from 13): Ackermann (capt), Ali, Butchart, Cosgrove, Davis, Dearden, Hill (wk), Klein, Lilley, Mike, Munsey, Parkinson, Swindells.
https://www.leicestershireccc.co.uk/news/2019/april/foxes-welcome-pakistan-t20.html
Pakistan will be the second international T20 visitors to the Fischer County Ground in the format following the visit of India in 2011, and another large crowd is expected.
The fixture is Pakistan's only T20 warm-up before they take on England in an IT20 at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff on Sunday 5 May (5pm start).
Pakistan have been involved in two one-day friendlies before starting their tour in England. Their first stop-off was at Kent where they took on the Kent Spitfires at the County Ground, winning by 100 runs.
They then made their way up to Wantage Road, where Pakistan were victorious by eight wickets.
Their next and final stop before taking on the England national side is here at the Fischer County Ground tomorrow evening (6:30pm start), and it's a game that Leicestershire CCC Head Coach is relishing.
He said: “We are going to play a strong side against Pakistan, we are going to try and win every game that we play.
“It is an exciting time. The ground will be full, it will be a very vibrant and colourful crowd full of the wonderful people of Leicester who will come and support ourselves and Pakistan.
“It is exciting, and we look forward to hopefully a wonderful performance. It will also put us in good stead, again, to play against Northamptonshire at home on Saturday.
“We have got to finish this competition well because it has not gone our way this time – but we have been learning all the while.”
Alongside the arrival of the Pakistan national team, the Foxes will soon welcome back their Pakistan international; Muhammad Abbas, who is flying into the UK on Tuesday afternoon.
Abbas was called up for the ODI series between Pakistan and Australia in the UAE, and was part of the nation's World Cup training camp in Lahore, and his arrival will give the Foxes a boost.
Nixon said: “Muhammad Abbas arrives back on Tuesday, but it will be a little bit too close from flying to playing. He will build up for the next Specsavers County Championship game at Middlesex.
“It is brilliant to have him back, but you obviously want everybody to do well and play for their country whether they are our players or not. For us, we are delighted to have him back."
The arrival of Abbas is huge for the Foxes, with the bowler being available to open to attack as well as give other bowlers a chance to rest and play to the best of their ability.
Nixon said: “It is crucial that Mo [Muhammad Abbas] adds that bit quality and that belief in our game, and it also helps us rotate the squad that little bit more. We have a smaller squad, so the bowlers have heavy workloads.
“Ideally, he would have been here from ball one of the season, as that was the plan, but to win against Sussex the way we did without Muhammad gave us great confidence. But, he will be back and firing for the next [Specsavers] County Championship game at Lord's."
Leicestershire CCC have named a 13-man squad for the game, including hard-hitting batsman George Munsey. The 26-year old, who recently scored a quickfire century for Gloucestershire CCC Second XI, currently plays for Scotland and was previously on the staff at Northant CCC.
Leicestershire Foxes (from 13): Ackermann (capt), Ali, Butchart, Cosgrove, Davis, Dearden, Hill (wk), Klein, Lilley, Mike, Munsey, Parkinson, Swindells.
https://www.leicestershireccc.co.uk/news/2019/april/foxes-welcome-pakistan-t20.html