The Eagles head to Durham’s Emirates Riverside ground in buoyant mood following wins over Surrey and Kent Spitfires last week. Lancashire will also be confident after finishing top of the North Group and dominating with just two defeats over the 14 games.
Titles: 1 (2015)
Finals Days: 7
Coach: Glen Chapple – A talismanic all-rounder who retired with 985 first-class wickets and nearly 9,000 runs to his name. The 45-year-old captained the Red Rose to Championship title success in 2011. Four Finals Day appearances to his name as a player and was assistant coach when they won it in 2015.
Captain: Dane Vilas – An experienced South African wicketkeeper-batsman with a solitary T20 international appearance to his name. First season as full-time skipper, he led them at stages last season with Liam Livingstone injured. In the winter, he captained Simon Harmer’s Jozi Stars to the inaugural Mzansi Super League title in South Africa.
Overseas Signings: James Faulkner (Australia), Glenn Maxwell (Australia).
Narrative: Lancashire, on paper, must be one of the favourites to win this summer’s Blast. They have all bases covered, power in bucketloads with the bat, bowling options – seam and spin – aplenty, gun fielders galore and lots of T20 experience.
Star Man: Glenn Maxwell – The Aussie is ranked by the ICC as the world’s best all-rounder in T20 cricket and the third-best batsman. A three-dimensional cricketer, he will empty the bars at Emirates Old Trafford and around the North Group grounds. His off-spin bowling was heavily utilised in the early-season Royal London One-Day Cup.
Mr Consistency: Steven Croft – Captained the side to their only title so far in 2015 and made 148 consecutive career T20 appearances for the Lightning between June 2006 and last July, an English record. Bats, bowls and, at 34, is still one of the best fielders going around.
Under the Radar: Richard Gleeson – When you consider some of Lancashire’s bowling options in James Faulkner, Saqib Mahmood and Matthew Parkinson, it is fair to say that the 31-year-old ex-Northants quick, may not grab many headlines. But he had a solid record in T20 prior to his debut campaign with the Lightning – 34 wickets in 31 appearances – and his extra pace could be useful on tired Old Trafford pitches.
Killer Stat: Prior to 2019, no other county had won more than Lancashire’s 104 T20 matches since the format’s inception in 2003. Only Nottinghamshire (103) and Warwickshire/Birmingham (101) had topped 100.
Wednesday’s quarter-final will be broadcast live on Sky Sports from 7pm with the winner booking a place to Finals Day on Saturday 21 September at Edgbaston.
