Captain's innings puts County in good position
Thu 24 Sep 2015
Mark Cosgrove made 126 not out, his highest score for Leicestershire, to put his side in a good position by the end of the third day of the intriguing LV=CC game at Derbyshire.
Ollie Freckingham (4-91) took an early wicket but Derbyshire claimed a first innings lead of 23 after posting 352 all out.
County were only 32 to the good when fourth wicket pair of Cosgrove and Ali came together and they put on a crucial 144 to get the team back on track.
The captain went on to share a sixth wicket stand of 61 with Lewis Hill and then added 44 for the seventh wicket with Ben Raine as Leicestershire closed on 307-7, a valuable lead of 284.
County started the day well with paceman Freckingham having Tom Taylor (3) caught behind by Niall O’Brien but Ben Cotton then helped to ensure the rest of the session belonged to the hosts.
Cotton and Tom Milnes put on 65 in 14.2 overs before Dan Redfern (8-5-8-1) made a key breakthrough, having Milnes (23) caught at the wicket by O’Brien.
Rob Taylor bowled Cotton after Derbyshire had added two more runs but the seamer then made an early breakthrough as he bowled Ned Eckersley (8).
The hosts continued to cause problems and Leicestershire were struggling at 55-3 when Mark Footitt removed Redfern (18) and Angus Robson (24) after edges to Wes Durston at second slip and ‘keeper Tom Poynton respectively.
There was a rebuilding job and Cosgrove and Ali went about their work busily. The duo were happy to play their shots and there was some symmetry – both batsmen struck Tom Taylor for a brace of consecutive fours in his first two overs and they also lofted the off-spin of Durston for maximums as the alliance developed.
An eventful 35th over saw 16 come off the bowling of young seamer Tom Taylor and a trio of milestones were reached in the process.
Cosgrove progressed to 50 from 68 deliveries (8x4, 1x6) and another four took the skipper beyond Robson’s seasonal tally of 1,079 runs, thus ensuing he would finish the season as Leicestershire’s leading scorer in first-class cricket. The left-hander then found the fence for the third time in the over - this time off a no-ball – to take the partnership with Ali into three figures.
Further landmarks arrived in the next four overs; two consecutive boundaries taken off Cotton by Cosgrove, now seeing it like the proverbial football, took him to 1,000 LV=County Championship runs for the season before Ali recorded a 76-ball 50 with the second of three fours in Footitt’s 11th over. Like his captain, Ali also struck eight fours and a maximum in his half-century.
Cosgrove hit a brace of fours in he penultimate over of the session but their stand was ended with the ball before tea, Ali (62) being trapped in front by Durston’s off-spin. Leicestershire were 176 ahead at that point at 199-4.
Two more runs had been added in the final period when O’Brien (0) was leg before wicket to become Footitt’s tenth victim before Hill joined forces with Cosgrove.
A boundary from Hill stretched the lead beyond 200 and Cosgrove hit two successive fours in the next over from Footitt as he homed in on a century. His fourth ton of the summer included 18 fours and a six, and came up from 121 deliveries.
The sixth wicket fell when Durston had Hill (28) held by Ben Slater and the off-spinner made it three late in the day as Raine (27), who moved to 500 LV=CC runs for the summer when scoring the 25th of this innings, edged to Wayne Madsen at first slip.
Cosgrove sensibly reined things in to ensure he was still there at stumps. He added 23 runs in the final 21.3 overs without finding the boundary again and everything is set up for a terrific final day at the 3aaa County Ground.
