Lancashire county cricket preview: New signings, released players, fixtures, predictions
EXPRESS SPORT is previewing the county cricket season and here we look at Lancashire.
Jimmy Anderson will be available for Lancashire for the first half of the summer
Lancashire
Last season
CC D1- 7th
RLODC- Group stage, 9th (bottom)
T20- group stage, 5th.
New signings
Brooke Guest (Aus, UK passport)- summer contract
Shivnarine Chanderpaul (West Indies)- Kolpak, one year
Dane Vilas (SA)- Kolpak, two-years
Junaid Khan has returned to Lancashire for this year's T20 Blast
The club made me feel incredibly welcome when I played for Lancashire in 2011 and 2014
Players out
Gavin Griffiths (Leicestershire)
Luis Reece (Derbyshire)
George Edwards (released)
Nathan Buck (Northamptonshire)
Tom Smith (retired)
Alviro Petersen (released)
Overseas stars
Ryan McLaren (SA, Hampshire)- whole season
Junaid Khan (Pak) – T20 blast
Club captain
Steven Croft
Key man
Jimmy Anderson- it’s not often Lancashire have had England’s leading Test wicket taker at their disposal but he is set to feature in all competitions up until July.
England radar
Haseeb Hameed – a broken hand ruled him out of two Tests in India which allowed Keaton Jennings to showcase his talent, but a solid start to the season would put Hameed at the front of the queue.
Young gun
Saqib Mahmood – an exciting pace bowler who impressed for the England under-19s and was part of the North v South series in March.
This season's predictions
CC D1- 6th
RLODC- group stage
T20 Blast- knockout stage
Haseeb Hameed could miss the start of the season for Lancashire with an injury
Lancashire legend Glenn Chapple has taken over as coach after Ashley Giles left for Warwickshire so it will be interesting to see what impact the captain has on a squad he obviously knows very well.
The Red Rose will be one of the many teams fighting relegation in a now eight-team Division One of the County Championship but Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Dane Vilas are two top signings to help their cause.
Junaid Khan has returned for the T20 Blast so expect a better performance than last season, where they narrowly missed out on a quarter-final spot.
First fixture
CCD1- Essex away, Friday 7th April
RLODC- Leicestershire home, Friday 28th April
T20 Blast- Durham away, Friday 7th July