Lancs captain Jennings relishing 'old foe' derbies

Keaton Jennings resigned as red-ball captain but remains in charge of Lancashire's T20 team

Lancashire T20 captain Keaton Jennings is relishing the first of two Roses clashes with "old foe" Yorkshire as the T20 Blast group stages approach their climax.

The Lightning slipped to second in the North Group with four matches remaining after Wednesday's defeat by Bears at Edgbaston.

But two of their remaining fixtures are against Yorkshire, who are struggling down in eighth and all but out of contention for the quarter-finals.

Now, Jennings wants his team to bounce back at Emirates Old Trafford on Friday night (19:00 BST) with the return at Headingley six days later.

"If you win both of those games, you're flying and you want to win both anyway because it's the old foe," he told BBC Radio Lancashire.

Lancashire have so far sold around 17,000 tickets for what remains one of the biggest matches in county cricket.

To their relief, the weather forecast is also good, considering the fixture has been rained off in each of the past two years.

"It's an exciting day - touch wood, the weather is set fair after the last few years - so [we're] keen to go and play some really good cricket," said Jennings.

"These are two of the biggest games, generally sell-out crowds and loads of niggle in it, so we're really excited to play them."

Despite the setback at Edgbaston, Lancashire are well placed to make the knockout stages for an eighth straight season - a record no other county can match.

But they are aiming higher, especially given they can call upon England white-ball players Jos Buttler, Phil Salt, Saqib Mahmood and Luke Wood.

"When you look at the quality of cricketer in that room, it's sensational," said Jennings.

"It doesn't happen very often but it does come with an expectation of winning, which is nice.

"It's nice to walk into a room with so many international caps and bounce ideas off guys that have played in so many conditions around the world, get different opinions and use those to try to win games of cricket."