Gleeson set to miss start of Steelbacks' T20 campaign

Richard Gleeson is closing in on a return to action (picture: Kirsty Edmonds)

The pace bowler has recently been recovering from an elbow injury that ruled him out of the entire Royal London One-Day Cup campaign.

And although he is on the comeback trail, the clash with the Foxes looks set to come too soon for the 30-year-old.

"We're still struggling a little bit with Richard Gleeson - he's not quite ready and his Mrs had a baby at the weekend so it's a bit tricky for us to get him the cricket he needs to be ready for the first team," said Northants head coach David Ripley.

"He probably won't be around much this week, but we hope to have him back after that.

"But other guys are coming back so we haven't got too many missing.

"It's nice to have Rory (Kleinveldt) and Seekkuge (Prasanna) here ready to fill those overseas berths for us this summer so we're in good shape for the comp."

The Steelbacks host Leicestershire on Wednesday before clashing with defending champions Nottinghamshire Outlaws at the County Ground on Friday night.

And they will have Josh Cobb back in action as the batsman looked in good touch during the practice games against Warwickshire on Monday.

While watching on, Ripley said: "Josh Cobb has just hit one for six over the bowler's head as I speak so he's all right."