17 / 26
Jason Gillespie has responded to his
side’s failure decisively with two big
name signings. England all-rounder
DavidWilley combines swinging the
new white ball when he bowls, with
swinging it handsomely out of the
park whilst batting in the upper or
middle order.Their T20 overseas
batsman, meanwhile, was the star
performer of the 2015/16 Big Bash
League,Travis Head.
The 22-year-old scored 372 runs at
an average of 36 in BBL05, earning
him an international debut for
Australia, following in the footsteps
of formerWhite Rose overseas men
Aaron Finch and Glenn Maxwell.
Similarly, the final visitors to
Trent Bridge of the season, the
Leicestershire Foxes, will also venture
to Nottingham with a strong influence
from Down Under.
Their Head Coach Andrew
McDonald is a veteran of 93 career
T20 appearances, most of them in
the Southern Hemisphere, while the
Foxes have a playing squad featuring
two equally experienced Aussie
campaigners in Mark Cosgrove and
Clint McKay.
Cosgrove, a clean hitting left-
handed batsman and McKay, a wily
experienced seamer, will be joined in
the Leicestershire line-up by South
African international all-rounder
Rilee Rossouw, who is replacing
Umar Akmal for the final six games of
the campaign. Leicestershire won on
their most recent visit toTrent Bridge
in 2015, prior to their tournament
fizzling out to a seventh placed finish.
Charlie Shreck, the Cornish fast
bowler whose ten-year stint with
the Outlaws ended in 2011, says
Leicestershire’s status as three-time
tournament winners is inspiring
the current crop ahead of the 2016
tournament.
“We’ve got quite a young squad and
T20 is the highlight these days for any
young cricketer,” says the 38-year-old.
“They are all looking to the IPL, the
Big Bash League and the NatWest
T20 Blast.They all want to play T20.
“They realise we have quite a heritage
in this competition, so there’s
definitely a want to perform, to get to
finals day and to play in-front of 20
thousand people.”
Should Shreck get the nod to play
at Trent Bridge, walking down the
famous pavilion steps will remind him
of his favourite ever T20 occasion
back in 2006.
“The win against Surrey in the
semi-final was probably my highlight,
where we posted 176 then restricted
them nicely,” he recalls.
“Ryan Sidebottom was man of the
match, bowling four overs for seven
runs which was remarkable.
“With a full house, at your home
ground, it was amazing. It’s just a
shame we didn’t quite get over the
line in the final, which unfortunately
was against Leicestershire and I keep
getting reminded of that these days.”
Ten years on, the time is now for the
Outlaws to go one better.
16 17
“With a full
house, at
your home
ground...
it was
incredible.”
Charlie Shreck saunters down
memory lane