Pre-Match Pack: Leicestershire (H)

Derbyshire have named their squad for next week’s LV= County Championship fixture against Leicestershire at The Incora County Ground, starting on Monday(10.30am). 

Batter Wayne Madsen comes into the final game of the season as the leading run-scorer in Division Two and the second-highest run-scorer in the whole LV= County Championship, his tally 1,181 bettered only by Kent’s Ben Compton on 1,193.

For Anuj Dal and Brooke Guest, the milestone of 1,000 County Championship runs for the season could still be in reach, with Dal just 74 runs away on 926, while Guest has 883 to his name.

Dal also has 32 wickets at an average of 29.31, making him one of the most productive first-class all-rounders in the country, having scored three centuries and five half-centuries batting at number seven, while also claiming one five-wicket haul against Worcestershire.

Sam Conners requires seven wickets in the final fixture of the season to reach 50 County Championship wickets in the campaign, with the England Lions bowler likely to lead the attack against Leicestershire.

Derbyshire Squad:

1. Billy Godleman (c)
10. Luis Reece
4. Harry Came
29. Brooke Guest (wk)
77. Wayne Madsen
76. Leus du Plooy
65. Anuj Dal
21. Mattie McKiernan
15. Alex Thomson
59. Sam Conners
11. Ben Aitchison
26. Nick Potts
Adam Sylvester

The Opposition

Leicestershire are bottom of the LV= County Championship and will be looking to end their campaign with a first victory of the season against Derbyshire.

Former red-ball captain, Colin Ackermann, is Leicestershire’s leading LV= County Championship run-scorer this season, with 774, which includes two centuries and a high-score of 277 not out.

With the ball, Callum Parkinson’s 30 wickets put him top of the Leicestershire charts, with the experienced Chris Wright not far behind on 26. Recently-signed quick, Michael Finan has made a strong start to life at Grace Road, claiming 13 wickets at an average of 26.

Pre-Match Talk

Head of Cricket, Mickey Arthur, has challenged Derbyshire’s squad to end the season strongly against Leicestershire at The Incora County Ground next week. 

Derbyshire’s saw their chances of promotion end with an innings defeat to Glamorgan at Sophia Gardens and, after Worcestershire and Durham picked up big wins in the penultimate round of fixtures, find themselves sixth in the table.

After a much-improved season, which has seen a number of standout individual and team performances, Derbyshire will be aiming to put in a strong showing against Leicestershire, who they defeated in April, and finish as high up the table as possible.

Having been in the promotion hunt until the final two weeks of the season, Arthur has challenged the squad to give the supporters a positive end to the campaign on home soil.

“I’ve said to our players, it’s not how you start, it’s how you end,” he said.

“We can all sit back and say we’ve had a good year, in comparison to where we’ve been in the last couple of seasons, we’re a side in transition but people remember how you finish, not how you start.

“We need to regain that edge. We’re not on holiday yet and we need to find that winning touch and go out on a high for the Members and supporters, which will give testimony for our season. We want to finish well against Leicestershire and finish as high up as possible.

“We’re moving forward and we have some interesting things in the pipeline as a county, so guys have got to show they want to be on that train.

“I’m interested in trophies, it’s a nice building block to win more than we lose (across all formats), but we don’t want to lose that edge.

“I don’t want us to have worked so hard this season and finish sixth, with only two sides behind us, because I don’t think that would reflect how well we’ve played. We let ourselves down against Glamorgan and we need to regain that edge.”

How to follow

Derbyshire’s LV= County Championship fixture against Leicestershire will be covered live on the club website, through our improved Match Centre, delivered in partnership with Purpose Media.

Our Match Centre includes Live Streaming, in-play live scorecards, ball by ball commentary and statistics, everything you need to stay up-to-date, no matter where you’re following from!

Updates will also be provides via our social media channels, so make sure you’re following us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, so you never miss a moment of the action.