New format brings new hope for Lancashire as they seek solace away from their bleak fortunes in red-ball cricket.
New format promises to bring a fresh change of cricket for the Lancs as they hope to put in a much better showing in the T20 Blast tournament.
After Dale Benkenstein abruptly left, former Blast-winning captain Steven Croft, who ended his 250-game T20 career last September, has taken over as interim head coach. That experience has been replaced by Lancashire’s overseas acquisition of Australian all-rounders Ashton Turner and Chris Green. Green earned a new two-year Blast contract after making an impression the previous season. Michael Jones, a dynamic batsman from Scotland, joined from Durham.
After a challenging start in the Rothesay County Championship, would a format tweak help Lancashire gain momentum? The Red Rose fell to the bottom of Division Two halfway through this month, and Keaton Jennings had already resigned as club captain before Benkenstein also suffered the consequences. But freeing themselves up in the Blast might help them recover from the Championship in the second half of the summer. In the Blast, Jennings is still in command.
Lancashire’s wild card will be Sir James Anderson. The England fast-bowling icon, who hasn’t played T20 cricket since 2014, has made himself available for the Blast despite the fact that he will be 43 years old when The Hundred begins in August. Teams will undoubtedly be vying for his services if he is successful with the Lightning.
Since the Blast began in 2003, no county has won more Twenty20 matches than Lancashire. In their 260 games, the Lightning have won 150 of them, and they do especially well at home. However, they intend to alter the crucial figure, which is the number of titles won—1. Adding to that number would be the ideal way to commemorate the tenth anniversary of their sole victory, which came in the 2015 final at Edgbaston against Northamptonshire.