Bears win despite Dexter half-century
Thu 2 Aug 2018
RESULT | Vitality Blast game 9: Leicestershire Foxes 143 lost to Birmingham Bears 146 for 2 by 8 wickets
SCORECARD | Available through ESPN Cricinfo
REACTION | Neil Dexter spoke to BBC Radio Leicester's Rob Jones after the game
HIGHLIGHTS | In-play highlights are available throughout the 2018 season
POINTS | Leicestershire Foxes 0, Birmingham Bears 2
REPORT | Birmingham Bears produced an excellent all-round performance to record an eight-wicket victory in the Vitality Blast at the Fischer County Ground.
Neil Dexter posted the highest score of the Foxes innings (56, 37b, 7x4, 2x6) while a seventh wicket partnership worth 34 between Mohammad Nabi and Ned Eckersley got the Foxes up to 143.
New ball duo Olly Stone and Chris Woakes claimed a combined five for 40 from their 7.3 overs, while former Fox Grant Elliott used all of his experience in the middle overs.
The Bears got ahead of the asking rate as Ian Bell (34, 23b) played well before Adam Hose (66*, 34b, 12x4, 1x6) and Sam Hain (27*, 22b) shared 95 in just 48 balls for the third wicket to steer their side home.
Colin Ackermann elected to bat first on a glorious evening, and the Foxes showed two changes to the side that lost at Yorkshire Vikings. Zak Chappell returned from injury and Ateeq Javid also came in to face his former team, for Tom Wells and Gavin Griffiths.
England all-rounder Woakes got the Bears off to a good start as Cameron Delport (0, 2b) dragged the second delivery of the game on to off stump.
A brace of boundaries came from the third over as Mark Cosgrove (8, 11b) got one between ‘keeper and slip, and Dexter punctured fielders at mid-wicket and deep square-leg, but the left-hander then lofted a slower delivery from Stone to Woakes at mid-off in the fourth.
Raine punched through cover and over mid-wicket for four and six respectively, while Dexter also found the boundary at mid-wicket, mid-on and extra cover as the score moved to 41 for two after six.
But Raine (12, 9b) then pulled Aaron Thomason to Ed Pollock at long-leg, leaving the Foxes struggling for momentum.
Opener Dexter continued to play all around the wicket, including a particularly eye-catching stroke through extra and two sizeable maximums over mid-wicket. He moved to a classy 50 (29b, 7x4, 2x6) at the halfway point of the innings with the Foxes at 79 for three.
The Bears then turned the screw; skipper Ackermann (9, 11b) holed out to long-on from the bowling of opposite number Elliott (4-0-18-2), who also took the wicket of Javid (6, 8b) in a canny spell of medium-paced bowling from the Pavilion End.
The second wicket owed a lot to the brilliant work of Pollock, who ran around and took a diving catch with his outstretched left hand at short third man, and when Jeetan Patel returned to bowl Dexter, the Foxes was at 95 for six in the 14th over.
There were three boundaries in Patel’s last over, including two powerful strokes through mid-on by Nabi, and another straight hit by the Afghanistan star brought a maximum at the end of the 17th.
‘Keeper Eckersley (16, 14b) offered useful support but both he and Nabi (19, 14b) fell in Stone’s final over. The paceman bowled Eckersley before extracting some movement to find the outside edge of Nabi.
Zak Chappell (7, 5b) and Callum Parkinson (3, 4b) were dismissed in the closing stages, leaving the Bears with a chase of just over seven runs per over.
Openers Pollock (10, 7b) and Bell collected a brace of boundaries in the opening two overs before the former was bowled by the impressive Nabi (3-0-18-1) at the start of the third.
Ackermann switched his bowlers around in the powerplay, but Bell and Adam Hose brought up the 50 by the end of the powerplay.
The Foxes needed a moment of magic, and Parkinson provided it, diving across to deflect a Hose drive on to the stumps with Bell out of his ground.
Hose produced a fine cover drive before seeing an edge run away for four, and there was a further slice of luck for the batsman when a lofted on-drive from the bowling of Parkinson evaded the fielder’s grasp and went for a further boundary.
There was nothing fortunate about Hose’s next brace of fours in the 10th over though; a pulled stroke to square-leg was followed by a glorious drive through cover point, putting the Bears at 86 for two at the midpoint.
Hain was a good foil, picking up a quartet of boundaries but also being content to hand the strike back to Hose, who found the fence on three occasions in the 12th before reaching 50 (29b) with his tenth four.
The half-centurion then struck his first maximum to wide mid-on before hitting two successive fours to see the Bears home at the start of the 15th over.
TEAM | Dexter, Delport, Cosgrove, Raine, Ackermann (capt), Eckersley (wk), Nabi, Javid, Chappell, Parkinson, Abbas
FIGURES | Nabi 3-0-18-1, Abbas 3-0-25-0, Chappell 2-0-25-0, Parkinson 4-0-31-0, Raine 1.2-0-17-0, Dexter 1-0-14-0, Javid 1-0-13-0
PHOTO | Thanks to Ed Melia for the photo of Neil Dexter batting
* Our next Vitality Blast home game is against Worcestershire Rapids on Friday, August 10! The best value tickets are available in advance – a family ticket for 2 adults and 3 under 16s is available for £37 ahead of the fixture. Secure your seat at the Fischer County Ground today HERE
