Clinical Foxes land five-wicket win against Durham
Thu 7 Jun 2018
RESULT | Royal London One-Day Cup game 8: Leicestershire Foxes 243-5 beat Durham 240 by 5 wickets
SCORECARD | Available through ESPN Cricinfo
REACTION | Cameron Delport spoke to BBC Radio Leicester's Richard Rae after the game
HIGHLIGHTS | In-play highlights are available throughout the 2018 season
POINTS | Leicestershire Foxes 2, Durham 0
REPORT | Cameron Delport scored a superb century as Leicestershire Foxes produced their best Royal London One-Day Cup performance of the campaign to land a five-wicket victory against Durham.
The Foxes were outstanding with the ball and in the field before being clinical with the bat. Zak Chappell took List A career-best figures of 3 for 45 while there were tremendous catches by Ben Raine, Harry Swindells and Delport.
A ninth wicket alliance of 100 between Ryan Davies - who scored an unbeaten 61 off 56 balls - and Barry McCarthy helped Durham to 240 all out but Delport made light work of the chase with 122 off 128 balls (16x4, 2x6).
The powerful left-hander shared 109 and 93 with Colin Ackermann (50, 61b, 4x4, 1x6) and Paul Horton (23, 31b) respectively as the Foxes got home by five wickets with 34 balls to spare.
There was a nice moment before play started as Harry Dearden and Swindells were presented with their 50-over caps by Head Coach Paul Nixon while Raine, Ateeq Javid and Richard Jones returned to the side.
Durham captain Tom Latham won the toss and elected to bat on a sunny afternoon at the Fischer County Ground.
Raine set the tone for the day with a magnificent catch early in the piece, Graham Clark (13, 26b) smashing the ball back to bowler, who took the sharpest of one-handed grabs with his left hand.
A tidy partnership developed between Gareth Harte and Michael Richardson, who each hit four boundaries in their innings, before Tom Wells picked up two important wickets.
Harte (35, 50b) was trapped bang in front by Wells, and the all-rounder then had New Zealand international Latham (4, 3b) caught at the wicket by Lewis Hill.
The Foxes kept their discipline with the ball and Jones was next to strike as Richardson (43, 42b) snicked to the ‘keeper.
When Ateeq Javid struck with his first delivery, clean bowling Stuart Poynter for 5 (14b), Durham were 125 for 5 - and Chappell then really turned the screw.
The paceman dismissed Will Smith (20, 32b) courtesy of a magnificent catch by Swindells, diving full length at mid-wicket, before sending the leg stump of Ryan Pringle (5, 9b) cartwheeling and having Mark Wood (0, 8b) superbly held by Delport at backward point.
Durham was now at 137 for 8 before debutant Davies, who hit a clean six over mid-on as part of a good knock, shared a three-figure partnership with McCarthy. It was the highest ninth wicket partnership against the Foxes in their List A history.
Davies posted a valuable half-century from 49 balls (5x4, 1x6) in the 56th over while McCarthy struck 43 off 49 deliveries before losing his middle stump to Jones. The final wicket was claimed by Raine as Matt Salisbury swotted a short delivery to Swindells at mid-wicket.
There was a good contest between the pacy Wood and Delport, who was intent on getting the Foxes off to a flyer. The left-hander struck seven boundaries and a maximum as the 50 came up inside six overs.
Delport moved to a hard-hit 50 from 39 balls (8x4, 1x6) with a beautiful straight drive before the Foxes lost two wickets during a good spell from off-spinner Pringle.
With the score at 93, Horton was bowled by a Pringle delivery that turned sharply, while Pringle produced another fine piece of work to run out Raine (2, 5b).
A century stand then developed between Ackermann and Delport. Ackermann looked in superb touch as he pulled a huge six and crashed a four through cover point in the 19th over.
Landmarks were reached as Delport progressed to a century from 117 balls (13x4, 2x6) while Ackermann moved to 50 (58b, 4x4, 1x6).
The Foxes lost both set batsmen and Dearden (6, 14b) to leg-spinner Clark, who bowled the left-handers and had Ackermann caught behind inbetween those strikes.
Javid (14*, 17b) and Wells (16*, 10b) combined forces to guide the Foxes home; it was a good way to round off the 50-over campaign before the Specsavers County Championship returns at Northants on Saturday.
On a dramatic final day of action, Worcestershire topped the North Division with a thrilling one-wicket win at Warwickshire, while Notts secured a home play-off after improving their net run rate in the nine-wicket success against Derbyshire, and Yorkshire will have an away play-off as they edged home against Northants.
TEAM | Delport, Horton (capt), Dearden, Ackermann, Javid, Hill (wk), Swindells, Wells, Chappell, Raine, Jones.
FIGURES | Chappell 10-1-45-3, Raine 9.4-1-44-2, Jones 9-0-40-2, Wells 9-0-54-2, Javid 8-1-34-1, Delport 3-0-21-0.
PHOTO | Thanks to John Mallett for the photo of Cameron Delport batting.
* Tickets for our first Vitality Blast home game against Durham Jets on Friday, July 6 cost just £10 for adults and £5 for under 16s in advance of the fixture. Secure your seat at the Fischer County Ground today HERE
