Stephen Parry concedes he and his Lancashire Lightning team-mates face a must-win assignment when they take on Surrey at Guildford in the Yorkshire Bank 40 tomorrow.
Left-arm spinner Parry, pictured, was instrumental in the Red Rose’s triumph over their weekend opponents at Emirates Old Trafford last month, returning magnificent figures of 5-17.
However, that still stands as their only victory alongside a no-result and three defeats in Group B, leaving Peter Moores’ squad with little room for error remaining.
“Hopefully it's not too late if we can get on a bit of a run," said Parry on Lancashire's official website. "We have to start by winning the next couple of games. We've got two big away games. If we manage to win them, you never know."
“We've had a slow start really. We've not always fired with the bat or the ball. It's been a bit up and down. We're trying our hardest to get it right though, and I'm sure we will do.”
Captain Glen Chapple features in the Lancashire squad and could make his first List A appearance of the season.
Ravi Bopara’s absence on England duty means Ben Foakes returns to the Essex Eagles squad to face Derbyshire Falcons, while paceman Sajid Mahmood is also named in a 13-man travelling party.
The Eagles are sitting pretty at the top of Group B and head coach Paul Grayson is keen to stress the presence of a team effort following Graham Napier’s show-stopping heroics against Surrey last time out, when the 33-year-old, pictured below, claimed four wickets in as many balls on the way to a career-best 7-32.
“The win against Surrey was as close to a perfect performance as one could hope for,” Grayson said.
“Graham Napier deservedly got all the headlines but others played their part in a superb all-round team performance. It might be very difficult to repeat that level but everyone is contributing and that is really vital.
“We’ve just got to keep our run going. It was nice to improve our (net) run-rate because you never know as the outcome of the group could depend on that.”
The Falcons have named a 15-strong group for the match at Leek. Seamer Tim Groenewald and all-rounder Jonathan Clare are back from injury and could feature for Karl Krikken’s men.
Yorkshire Vikings fans are set to get a glimpse of the next generation when their side host Leicestershire Foxes at Scarborough.
Ben Coad made his debut in last week’s defeat to Gloucestershire and the 19-year-old’s fellow seamer Matthew Fisher could make his senior bow despite being only 15 years of age. All-rounder Ryan Gibson and seamer Will Rhodes, 17 and 18 respectively, are also included in the 14-man squad.
“We’re probably out of the competition now so it gives an opportunity to a few young lads and why not?” said skipper Andrew Gale on his county’s official website following four defeats from five Group C matches.
“We have to get the balance right and make sure we don’t get absolutely hammered, but the lads will get some exposure and hopefully a few of them will grab their opportunity.”
Leicestershire are looking get back on track after defeat to Middlesex Panthers ended a run of three successive wins and Ned Eckersley and Nathan Buck travel with the XI from that match following a fallow week for the Foxes in the LV= County Championship.
Glamorgan have added left-arm swing bowler Alex Jones to their squad to face the Unicorns at Southend after John Glover sustained a finger injury against Gloucestershire in the championship this week.
The Welsh team are searching for a first List A victory over the Unicorns away from home, having come up short at Bournemouth in 2010 and Wormsley nine years earlier.