Less pressure suits Foxes - White

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Wayne White believes defending champions Leicestershire will benefit from not being among the favourites to win the Friends Life t20.

The Foxes upset all odds on finals day at Edgbaston last year, surviving a one-over eliminator against Lancashire before defeating Somerset to be crowned champions.

This year, however, mainly due to their form in other competitions and the loss of the 2011 player of the tournament Andrew McDonald, veteran Paul Nixon and emerging duo James Taylor and Harry Gurney, Leicestershire are ranked as 16/1 outsiders by certain bookmakers to claim back-to-back titles.

Despite people already writing off Leicestershire's chances of retaining the trophy, White insists less pressure will give them every chance of fulfilling the tag of underdogs again.

“I have fond memories; it was a great campaign and one the boys would like to see again,” he told ecb.co.uk.

“It’s going to be very difficult because there are some very good sides. Hopefully we will get our heads down, get a bit of momentum and get to the latter stages again.

"Pollard was a good wicket for us, we tried to not rough him up, but tried to go a little shorter," Leicestershire's Wayne White said

“We can go in with a little bit of confidence, but not with the favourites tag. It suits us not to be up there; I’m sure the bookies won’t have us down as favourites and that suits us just fine.

“There are 18 great counties out there who have all spent quite a bit of cash and are really going for it. It’s all about momentum and if we get a few early wins and get on a roll, then who knows. You probably wouldn’t bet against us.”

Leicestershire and tonight’s opponents Nottinghamshire dominated the North Group last year, and White has highlighted the importance of momentum in the shortest form.

“We got on a roll and, because the games are so close together, momentum took us through,” he added.

“We lost a home game against Lancashire and after that we really kicked on. It was a bit of a whirlwind really; we lost a few games to rain and lost a game to Durham where we nearly chased down 210 so the belief was always there all the way through.”

All-rounder White experienced a mixed finals day as he bowled the final ball of the last-four encounter with the Red Rose which was crashed over the ropes by Gareth Cross to take the match into a super over.

White responded in the final, taking the wicket of dangerman Kieron Pollard in his only over thanks to a superb catch by Nixon.

“Unfortunately I was the bowler who got hit for six off the last ball so it was a very up and down semi-final for myself,” he recalled.

“But for the fans watching it must have been a great finals day and luckily Jeffo (Will Jefferson) chucked one over the ropes for six and got us over the line.

“Somerset have got some great players and they bat down to seven or eight. Pollard was a good wicket for us; we tried to not rough him up, but tried to go a little shorter and play on his ego.

“We brought a few fielders in and he took the bait, luckily Paul Nixon caught one low to his right.”

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