All-rounders firing Foxes' bid

All-round contributions have been vital during Leicestershire Foxes’ fine start to the NatWest T20 Blast tournament.

Mat Pillans has been a terrific signing with both bat and ball while Colin Ackermann and Cameron Delport have produced runs, tight overs, wickets and good fielding to the cause across the opening six games.

Tom Wells has also been an ever-present in the side and his most important contribution was an unbeaten 31 off just 16 balls that got the side over the line against Worcestershire Rapids.

The 24-year-old was called upon in all three disciplines against the Bears, taking three safe catches, picking up the wicket of Grant Elliott and conceding five in his only over, and scoring 29 off 28 balls.

Leicestershire are looking to end the first half of their campaign by recording a fifth win against Durham Jets tomorrow evening (6.30pm start), and Wells will again be ready to do whatever is asked of him.

“To be fair the boys have bowled brilliantly this year and I haven’t really been needed with the ball,” said Wells. “It’s about being ready when you’re called on, like I was against Birmingham, and it went well.

“I bowled 10 overs regularly in the Royal London One-Day Cup but the lads have been doing really well in this tournament, so it’s just a case of me filling in the fourth or fifth bowler’s spot wherever needed.

“In terms of the fielding it’s usually Hilly [Lewis Hill] that gets the catches but I got myself in the hot zone! It’s nice to contribute wherever I can. We never felt out of the game but we lost wickets in the powerplay and fell a bit short at the end, which I take responsibility for.

“They defended the score well. Jeetan [Patel] has been a great performer over the years - and batsmen are still finding him hard to get away - Boyd Rankin always seems to extract a bit of extra bounce with his height, and Grant Elliott is a wily old Fox.”

Head Coach Pierre de Bruyn said the team did not get carried away by four consecutive wins, and equally will not get too downhearted by two successive defeats as they prepare to face a Durham Jets side that have yet to win in the competition.

“We didn’t execute well against the Bears, there were definitely little patches where we could have saved some runs had we been more clinical,” said de Bruyn.

“But at the end of the day the toss went our way and we were still happy to chase that score. It is very difficult to defend here under the lights.

“It is all about character and how we bounce back, it was a tough loss on Friday night where we felt in control during the chase, and we were outplayed against Birmingham.

“Winning is a habit but you are always going to have a little dip in the competition. We need to stay calm and just refocus going into the Durham game.

“Yes, we can look at it [the fact that Durham are yet to win] as an opportunity to grind them harder but Durham are a team that aren’t going to lay down.

“They will play some good cricket and are going to want to redeem themselves and get back into this competition. They will see our result against Birmingham as an opportunity for them to use to their advantage. There are no easy games in this North group.”

Wells echoed the sentiments of his Head Coach. “We haven’t had any complacency in the last two games, Northants was a tough one to take while we came across a decent Birmingham side who played well on the night,” said the all-rounder.

“We have played some great cricket and it’s important that we look forward to the Jets and see it as a good opportunity to win another game.”

Wells is part of a 14-man squad for the visit of the Jets, who arrive at the FCG having played back-to-back games against Notts Outlaws and Yorkshire Vikings this week.

Durham bowled and fielded extremely well at Headingley but ultimately suffered a 24-run defeat to the leaders as Adil Rashid and Tim Bresnan also excelled with the ball.

Foxes (from): McKay (capt), Aadil, Ackermann, Cosgrove, Delport, Griffiths, Hill, Klein, Parkinson, Pettini, Pillans, Ronchi, Sayer, Wells.