Pre-Match Pack: Yorkshire Vikings (H)

Derbyshire Falcons have named a 14-player squad for tomorrow’s sold out Vitality Blast fixture against Yorkshire Vikings at Queen’s Park, starting at 2.30pm.

Spinner Mark Watt is absent, having joined up with Scotland for their Cricket World Cup qualifying tournament in Zimbabwe, starting on Sunday, with Scotland’s first match coming against Ireland on Wednesday.

In his absence, the pace trio of Zaman Khan, Zak Chappell and George Scrimshaw will be relied on for wickets, along with Mattie McKiernan. Chappell’s 16 wickets are the third-most in the competition, having picked up career-best figures of 4-41 in the tie with Durham on Friday.

Luis Reece struck his 15th T20 half-century for Derbyshire on Friday night, a number second only to Wayne Madsen, and the all-rounder will be hoping to make a big impact at Queen’s Park this weekend.

Derbyshire Squad:

12. Haider Ali
10. Luis Reece
24. Tom Wood
04. Harry Came
77. Wayne Madsen
76. Leus du Plooy (c)
29. Brooke Guest (wk)
65. Anuj Dal
21. Mattie McKiernan
15. Alex Thomson
32. Zak Chappell
09. George Scrimshaw
99. Zaman Khan
11. Ben Aitchison

The Opposition

Yorkshire come into the game in fine form, having won six T20s in-a-row, with batter Dawid Malan (488) the country’s leading T20 run-scorer this season, with Derbyshire’s Wayne Madsen not far behind.

Jordan Thompson has claimed 16 wickets for the Vikings, four more than any of his teammates, and the all-rounder will have a big part to play at Queen’s Park on Sunday.

Pre-Match Talk

Luis Reece says Derbyshire will need to be brave at Queen’s Park when they face Yorkshire Vikings, but believes the side will take confidence from a good record at the venue. 

Derbyshire are aiming to extend their lengthy unbeaten T20 run at Chesterfield against the Vikings, who themselves are on a run of six-consecutive wins this season.

Reece says Derbyshire relish the local derby at Queen’s Park, but says the Falcons need to show their best cricket against the White Rose this Sunday.

“We play good cricket at Chesterfield,” Reece said.

“Even in the four-day game, we played good cricket after the first morning, it’s a ground we play quite well at, but we have to remain positive and keep pushing ourselves to get better and better.

“A win there, and the dynamic of the group changes again. Yorkshire are a good side, but when we are at our best, we are as good as anyone, we have shown that time and time again. We have to be brave enough to push our boundaries, but when we play our best cricket, no one can keep us down.”

How to follow

Derbyshire Falcons’ Vitality Blast fixtures against Yorkshire Vikings 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.