Changes for Staffs
Staffordshire have made four changes from the squad that won their opening Unicorns Trophy match against Hertfordshire as they change competitions and take on Cheshire in a Twenty 20 group match at Nantwich tomorrow.
Out go captain Kadeer Ali, Tim Maxfield, Zen Malik and 12th man Shoaib Akhtar to be replaced by Rob Hemmings, Aneesh Kapil, Louis Allison and Matthew Morris.
The two counties will play each other twice with the first game at 11am and the second at 2.30pm.
Squad: Sam Kelsall (Captain, Moddershall/Oulton), Spencer Byatt (w/k, Little Stoke), Louis Allison (Porthill Park), Matthew Morris (Westhoughton), Peter Wilshaw (Meakins), Michael Hill (Meakins), Brinder Phagura (Moseley), Aneesh Kapil (Wolverhampton), Rob Hemmings (Audley), Dan Richardson (Leek), Richard Williams (Checkley), James Cox (Wollerton).
23 year-old Hemmings has made a flying start to the season for Audley having already hit a century. Former Worcestershire and Surrey all-rounder Kapil plays for Wolverhampton and last featured for the County in the 2017 season. Westhoughton all-rounder Matthew Morris impressed in his appearance for the Staffs Development team’s victory over Warwickshire under 19’s and the Staffs T20 wins in their friendly earlier in the season and is in line to make his first appearance for the full Staffs XI as is Porthill Park youngster Allison. Sam Kelsall takes over as skipper in the absence of Kadeer Ali.
Captained by Rick Moore, Cheshire made a disastrous start to this year’s T20 competition losing both their opening games to Cumberland as they attempt to reach the final again this season. They know that to have any hope of reaching the final again these matches against Staffordshire are must win games. However they bounced back last Sunday to win their opening Unicorns Trophy match against Northumberland. For Staffs this is their first outing of the season in the T20 competition but go into the game on a high after last week’s Trophy win over Hertfordshire.
