Lancashire captain Dane Vilas ready to go for season opener

Lancashire captain Dane Vilas is raring to go as the cricket season gets underway.
Lancashire captain Dane Vilas.Lancashire captain Dane Vilas.
Lancashire captain Dane Vilas.

The Red Rose host Sussex in their first County Championship game today and the skipper believes things couldn't have gone any better for his side during the off-season.

Cricket has been hard to come by over the last season, with a curtailed season and limited action last summer due to Covid 19.

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Lancs unofficially opened their season with a friendly against Essex, following that with a home game against Derbyshire.

Vilas was happy with what his side got from the games and feels they're well placed going into the real deal.

He said: "We've had a great prep, really. With everything that's gone on I don't think it could have been any better.

"We've had two excellent practice games, one down in Essex and one here at Old Trafford which were fantastic. The weather played its part on both occasions.

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"Everyone is fit and firing and ready to go. Everybody took what they can, the batters got a good hit, the bowlers got a good run around outside and got their overs under their belt so the medical staff are happy with them.

"It's gone according to plan and there's been eight days of good, hard cricket which is excellent.

"Everybody is 100 per cent, they're very strong off the back of the great pre-season.

"Credit to Tom Webster (strength and conditioning )and Sam Burns getting all the guys ready and fired up.

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"We're as strong and fit as we've ever been so we're ready to go.

"Barring the two guys away at the IPL (Liam Livingstone and Jos Buttler) it's good to have Saqib and Parky back from their stint away. I'm excited and really ready."

Jimmy Anderson is not expected to feature this week but Vilas is hopeful that England's best ever fast bowler will be available for selection on a couple of occasions.

Anderson has been back in training with Lancashire but will soon return to the England set up.

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Vilas said: "We've had Jimmy come back in for the last couple of days just to bowl and be a part of the squad again. It's fantastic to see him and he's looking in great shape.

"We'll have a chat with the ECB to see how many games we can get him for.

"Hopefully we can get as many as possible.

"I don't know at this stage, probably two or three and then they'll wrap him up.

"He's always keen to play which is fantastic and we'll take what we can get from him."

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