In a new series for this year's Vitality Blast, an expert eye will provide a deep dive into each of The Blaze and Notts Outlaws' Trent Bridge opponents.

As the Vitality Blast resumes at Trent Bridge with a double-header following a three-week hiatus, a detailed look at Leicestershire Foxes Men is provided by journalist and regular watcher of the Foxes, Jon Culley.

Secure your seats to Sunday’s double-header on 6 July here...

Has it been a successful first eight games for the Foxes in the 2025 Vitality Blast?

Absolutely. Having made the quarter-finals only twice in 13 seasons since they last won the competition in 2011, to be among the North Group leaders at this stage is as good as Foxes fans could have imagined in reality.

Also, in the seasons where they have been competitive in recent years, it has tended to be in the second half of the campaign and too late, frustratingly, to get them over the line. With the points they have in the bag so far, they would be disappointed not to finish in the top four.

And there has generally been a good feeling around the team this summer. The confidence generated by a successful season in red-ball cricket so far has spilled over into the Blast.  They step on to the field with a genuine belief that they can beat anyone, which has not always been there lately.

It seems like everyone is contributing with the bat as far as the numbers go, so who have been the real standouts, in your eyes?

Having smashed a 15-ball half century - the third quickest in T20 history in this country - in the opening game of the season, Sol Budinger has already staked a claim to be the Foxes’ batter of the year. There is a sense of excitement among supporters whenever he goes out to the middle. But, yes, there have been contributions from pretty much all the batters.

Rehan Ahmed is growing into as good a batter as he is a leg-spin bowler - and he’s not bad at that! He made his maiden fifty in the format in Leicester a couple of weeks ago, when he and Louis Kimber were excellent. 

Kimber - a surprise choice to captain the side this year but doing well enough so far - made a good half-century of his own off 27 balls against Durham on home turf.

The best is probably still to come from Shan Masood, who has replaced red-ball skipper Peter Handscomb as overseas batter in the Blast this summer, and certainly from Rishi Patel, who has a couple of career T20 hundreds to his name, but is still waiting to ignite this year.

With the ball, Logan van Beek leads the way comfortably, but who else has had a good competition?

Logan has been a good addition to the squad in white and red-ball cricket. He’s the leading wicket-taker in both and a really personable guy for good measure. You can’t really ask for more than that from an overseas player. His three for 15 against the Outlaws at Grace Road has been his outstanding performance and it has been rare for him not to pick up two or three, although at times he’s gone for a few more runs than he would have liked.

As with the batting, though, different bowlers have chipped in at different times, which has helped underline the coaching staff’s philosophy of putting team before individuals and of the bowlers seeing themselves as a collective unit. 

They have had a tough job, given that two of last season’s top wicket-takers in loan stars Scott Currie and spinner Lewis Goldsworthy have returned to their parent clubs, and Josh Hull, who took 18 Blast wickets in 2024 and comes with the X-factor all teams crave, has yet to make an appearance because of injury or unavailability. All being well, Hull should figure against the Outlaws.

Ben Mike, whose natural talent and aggressive instincts make him potentially the Foxes’ most dangerous weapon with ball in hand but at other times the most frustrating, was outstanding in the win over Worcestershire Rapids at Grace Road. Rehan Ahmed was excellent against Lancashire in the only win on the road, although he has been struggling with a side injury of late and may play only as a batter, while Tom Scriven, who missed almost all of last season’s competition because of injury, has chipped in with some important wickets.

In both departments, who do you think is (or are) the young up-and-comer(s) worth keeping an eye on?

Josh Hull and Rehan Ahmed are both still only 20 and my young up-and-comer is less than a month younger than either of them!

But, if he gets a chance - and he might with a few of the bowlers currently carrying injuries - Sam Wood is a potential all-rounder with bags of talent.  He’s not as tall as Hull (6ft 7ins) or 18-year-old Alex Green (6ft 6ins) but at 6ft 4ins, he is brisk enough and gets lots of natural bounce.

He made his debut in the equivalent Blast fixture at Trent Bridge last year, which was abandoned after one innings when the weather closed in, but has picked up a wicket in each of the three games he’s had in this year’s competition, including Joe Clarke’s against the Outlaws at Grace Road.

Although he bowls right-arm seam, he bats left-handed. He hasn’t had the chance to show off his quality with the willow in any of his four Blast appearances to date but already has a half-century under his belt from only six red-ball innings and hammered an 18-ball 27 that included two cleanly-hit sixes and three fours against Middlesex the other day, having made 33 in the first innings.

Heading into the second block of the Blast, what do you think should be the target for the Foxes in 2025?

It will be interesting to see how they react after losing their unbeaten record in Division Two of the Championship in somewhat emphatic fashion against Middlesex last week, but there is a lot of self-belief in this squad nowadays and they will think they can bring back the glory days in this competition, in which they still share the record for most wins (with Hampshire), even if the last of their three titles was 14 years ago in 2011.

They had a taste of lifting a trophy on this ground two years ago when they won the One-Day Cup and there is no reason not to see a place at Finals Day as an attainable target. Certainly, failing to secure a quarter-final would be a bit of a disappointment on the evidence so far.

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