A cricket festival is about to kick-off at Emirates Old Trafford promising fun for all the family. With kids' tickets costing from just £1 and a fiver for adults, families are expected to flock to the venue to see some of the biggest names in world cricket take centre stage,.
England trio Liam Livingstone, Matt Parkinson and Jos Buttler are all set to be in attendance. For those new to T20 cricket, it’s essentially a shorter form of the sport – limited to 20 overs of gameplay – and has become popular with cricketing nations around the world.
It's the first Vitality Blast to take place at Old Trafford since 2019 and follows the success of the Hundred, which attracted huge crowds last year. With some of the fixtures taking place during half term week, families will have even more opportunity to get along to see Lancashire Lightning in action.
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The opening game is the highly-anticipated, and nearly sold-out, fixture against Roses rivals Yorkshire Vikings at 6.30pm on Friday, May 27, before Lancashire Lightning take on Worcestershire Rapids on Sunday, May 29, at 2.30pm.
There's a new and improved fan village inside the ground with 'activities to keep all ages entertained away from the on-field action'. During the half-term week, Lancashire Lightning and Thunder will share the stage during two doubleheaders with the professional women’s team, Thunder, playing in the headline slot of 7pm for the first time on Wednesday, June 1.
Then 48 hours later, on Jubilee Weekend, the roles will be reversed when Thunder host Loughborough Lightning at 2.30pm before Lancashire Lightning take on Northants Steelbacks under the lights on Friday, June 3. Glen Chapple’s team play two fixtures in Blackpool before returning to Emirates Old Trafford on Sunday, July 3 taking on Birmingham Bears to conclude the Vitality Blast group stages.
Lancashire and England spinner Matt Parkinson said: “We are a team that thrives on having the crowd there. The crowd can swing tight matches in our favour and has a massive impact on us as a team, more so than most counties.
“The group of players we have got thrive on big atmospheres and we have a quite a lot of showmen in the side who look to put on those performances for the fans.
“The atmosphere inside Emirates Old Trafford for Blast matches is amazing and to know that we are finally back to capacity crowds this summer is a great feeling.”
For more details about the event see here, or visit the website here to see the list of fixtures and to book tickets.
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