Lancashire coach Peter Moores has challenged his players to enjoy pitting their wits against England captain Alastair Cook in their latest LV=County Championship action.
Cook and his Essex colleagues arrive at Emirates Old Trafford as Lancashire bid to build on last week’s nail-biting victory over Glamorgan at Colwyn Bay.
And Moores – who knows Cook well from his time with England – has urged the Lancashire bowling unit to focus on their own game.
“He’s a fantastic cricketer but it takes just one ball,” he told Lancashire’s official website.
“When you get an opportunity to play against an England player, it’s exciting. You should embrace it, bowlers or batters. It will be a good challenge.
“Like always in Championship cricket, we tend to concentrate on ourselves knowing that if we put the balls in the right areas, it will put people under pressure.”
The Red Rose have made two changes to their squad with Oliver Newby and Stephen Parry replacing James Anderson and Simon Kerrigan.
Seamer James Anderson was not made available for this match by the ECB while Preston-born Kerrigan is away on England Lions duty and set to face New Zealand.
And Moores hopes Lancashire can generate momentum from their win over Glamorgan, with the 50-year-old insisting he always felt his side could wrestle victory from the jaws of defeat.
“It was a great win because it was one born out of belief and the ability to build pressure on another side, which we did,” he added.
“We needed it without a shadow. We were always behind the eight-ball because of how we batted first innings, and there’s no excuses.
“We got put under pressure by a Glamorgan side who bowled very well. You didn’t get many free hits, which created pressure.
“We knew that, with them batting last, if we were able to get some kind of score we might have a chance.”
Meanwhile, Moores was left ruing missed opportunities as Lancashire Lightning crashed to defeat against Durham Dynamos in their opening Yorkshire Bank 40 clash of the season.
Despite starting positively, the Red Rose lost wickets at regular intervals to post a below par total of 216-9 before Durham cantered to a five-wicket win inside 35 overs.
And Moores was irritated his batting line-up failed to fire after Stephen Moore and Ashwell Prince looked to have built a solid foundation.
“We got off to a really good start and had the chance to post a very competitive score, which would have been difficult to chase,” he told Lancashire’s official website.
“But we didn’t do that. No batsman went past 50, and there was no partnership after the first one, which had an impact on the game.
“We had two men in. It was a great opportunity to allow us to push towards the end of the innings, but we didn’t take that opportunity.
“The batsmen have got to take responsibility for that.”
Lancashire squad: Glen Chapple (capt), Karl Brown, Steven Croft, Gareth Cross (wkt), Kyle Hogg, Paul Horton, Simon Katich, Oliver Newby, Stephen Parry, Ashwell Prince, Luke Procter, Wayne White
Image courtesy of Home of Cricket, via YouTube, with thanks
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