Aadil taking positives into Warwickshire game

Although Aadil Ali was pleased to return to the side for Sunday’s Royal London One-Day Cup game against Worcestershire Rapids, he admitted to being disappointed despite scoring a career-best 88.

The young batsman played a mature knock as the Foxes battled hard to try to overhaul the Rapids’ 361-8 but the eventual outcome was a 42-run defeat.

Aadil’s runs came off just 80 balls and included four fours and three sixes on his return to the first team. He paid tribute to the Leicestershire groundstaff after playing a key role in an entertaining game at the Fischer County Ground.

“We have a massive squad, and everybody is good enough to play in the first team,” said Aadil. “It’s a good problem for the Head Coach, but as a player it’s a case of being patient, working hard, and taking your chance when it comes.

“It was nice to do well but the most important thing is winning the game for your team, and we fell short – it was my job to see it through and bat the overs, so I’m disappointed.

“The groundstaff did a great job, the wicket was flat and the outfield lightning fast, so we felt we could chase any total. We were pretty sure we could be there or thereabouts, and on another day we might have done it.

“Credit to Worcestershire, they kept taking wickets at the right time, and the way they changed the pace of the bowling was quite smart.” 

Aadil said the team will put the setback behind them quickly and can draw on plenty of good points as they prepare for tomorrow’s home game against Warwickshire (2pm start).

“There are definitely more positives than negatives, our brand of cricket is to be positive, whether we’re 30-3 or 100 without loss off the powerplay,” said Aadil.

“Worcestershire made us take risks, but overall we have scored well over 600 runs in less than 100 overs of batting and if we keep playing the way we are, then we’ll win more games than we lose.

“I’m confident because we are scoring more than six runs an over, and the way the batters are going at the minute, I’m sure that somebody is going to score a matchwinning 100.

“We’ll look to put in another good performance against Warwickshire and hopefully there will be another good crowd in, like against Worcestershire.” 

Leicestershire will again be without some key players for the fixture. Neil Dexter joined captain Clint McKay, Ben Raine, Richard Jones, Colin Ackermann and James Burke on the injury list ahead of the Worcestershire match. A 14-man squad has been named, with young all-rounder Will Fazakerley coming in for Dexter.  

Warwickshire beat Northants by ten wickets in their opening game and are currently playing Durham at Edgbaston in the second fixture today.

Sam Hain and Will Porterfield shared an excellent opening stand of 162 on that occasion and the Bears have plenty of experience with Ian Bell, Jonathan Trott, Jeetan Patel and Rikki Clarke among their key players.

The game will again be free for under 16s, while a discounted ticket is available for £10 on the gate for those who are unable to attend until the second innings.

Foxes (from): Eckersley (capt), Ali, Chappell, Cosgrove, Delport, Fazakerley, Griffiths, Hill (wk), Klein, Parkinson, Pettini, Sayer, Sykes, Wells.