By Matt Somerford
Two of the world’s most feared hitters will go head-to-head in tomorrow night’s NatWest T20 Blast Roses clash.
While the focus of attention had been on the return of former England captain Andrew Flintoff - who was today left out of the Lancashire Lightning squad - an expected full-house at Emirates Old Trafford is set to be treated to a power duel between Jos Buttler and Aaron Finch.
Lancashire Lightning wicketkeeper-batsman Buttler returns to his new county after leading England’s run-scorers in the Royal London One-Day Series against Sri Lanka.
The 23-year-old most significantly blasted the fastest international century at Lord’s - from just 61 balls - last weekend and is back in time for a mouth-watering showdown with Finch.
“Having Jos back in the squad is a massive boost,” Lancashire batting all-rounder Steven Croft told ecb.co.uk.
“I was watching the other day his hundred on TV. He can do some unbelievable things. It is brilliant to get him back.”
Buttler’s brilliance at the home of cricket was reminiscent of Finch’s world-record 156 from 63 balls versus England at the Ageas Bowl last summer.
The Australian is the world’s top-ranked Twenty20 batsman and introduced himself to English audience in a blaze of strokeplay when he cleared the ropes 14 times.
Croft admits Finch is a man to be feared in the Yorkshire Vikings line-up but, after his side have strung four wins together, believes his team-mates are up for the challenge.
“I think a few people might dread bowling against Finch but we’re looking forward to it really with a big crowd," he said.
“That’s what you want to do in county cricket. You want to play against the best players you can do with the biggest crowds that you can.
“Tomorrow is going to be a great game for all. There will be plenty of international players on show – we have Junaid Khan and they have Tim Bresnan too – so it should be a great game.”
Bresnan returns to Yorkshire’s 14-man squad in place of Liam Plunkett, who was named in England's Investec Test squad alongside county team-mates Joe Root and Gary Ballance.
Veteran seamer Ryan Sidebottom will also miss the match with a hamstring problem.
* Steven Croft has played 92 consecutive Twenty20 matches for Lancashire. There has been only one longer such run for a county – Paul Nixon’s 95 straight games for Leicestershire.
* The nine completed Twenty20 matches between Lancashire and Yorkshire in the past five years have produced four wins apiece and one tie.