CRICKET: Can Lancashire open season with a win over Notts?

Lancashire begin their Specsavers County Championship campaign on Friday when they entertain Nottinghamshire at Emirates Old Trafford.

The Red Rose county will be looking to get a win under their belt and push for their first title in seven years.The club narrowly missed out on the Championship title last season as they finished only behind Essex.

Liam Livingstone and his men will be looking to show their guests that Division One isn’t for the faint-hearted.

It is expected that both Keaton Jennings and Graham Onions will make their competitive debuts for their new county in front of a home crowd.

Batsman Jennings, 25, will be looking to carry his pre-season form into the Championship as he looks to regain his place in the England team later in the summer when both Pakistan and India visit English shores.

Onions begins his 15^th season as a county cricketer on Friday, and he too will be looking to impress in his new colours by adding to the 621 first-class wickets that he already has to his name.

Overseas player Joe Mennie will make his maiden appearance for the county. He will be looking to carry his domestic form in Australia to English shores. The New South Wales paceman took 30 wickets in 10 Sheffield Shield matches for South Australia over the winter.

As for the visitors, they’ll be looking to adjust to life back in the top flight of domestic cricket. The club finished second last year behind Worcestershire in Division Two.

They have New Zealander Ross Taylor in the side this summer as their overseas player. The 34-year-old has played 151 first-class matches, scoring over 10,000 runs at an average of 43.90 – This illustrates that he can pose a real threat. 

You can follow the match on Quays News as we will bring you daily reports following the close of each days play.

Predicted Lancashire XI to face Nottinghamshire:

Keaton Jennings, Haseeb Hameed, Alex Davies (wk), Liam Livingstone (c), Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Steven Croft, Dane Villas, Jordan Clark, Joe Mennie, Saqib Mahmood, Graham Onions