Cosgrove fit for Glamorgan reunion

In-form Leicestershire CCC captain Mark Cosgrove is looking to end the season on a high as his former county Glamorgan are in town to round off the season at the Fischer County Ground tomorrow (10.30am start).

Cosgrove wants a team victory to round off a campaign of progress for Leicestershire and will also be looking to add to his impressive personal record in 2016.

The 32-year-old recorded his fifth three-figure score of the summer in last week's draw at Derbyshire, 110 in the second innings, after a near miss of 95 not out in the first innings.

This was achieved despite suffering a painful hand injury in the field on the first day but Cosgrove is fit to play in the final match, where he will look to add to his 1,242 runs at an average in excess of 50.

Cosgrove was modest of his achievements, preferring to praise his teammates as they battled to a draw after the home side got on top in the final session at the 3aaa County Ground.

“It was a painful injury but I was in the game, so I had to take painkillers and finish it as well as I could,” said Cosgrove.

“It’s always nice to contribute but I also thought that Paul Horton and Neil Dexter played well on the last day, we had some good partnerships going, which was the key as we looked to chase down 350.

“Rob Sayer and Richard Jones then batted extremely well to bat out the last 20-odd overs, we played to win but ultimately we fought hard to make sure that we didn’t lose.

“We’re looking to end the season strongly against Glamorgan, we deserve to finish the season well because we’ve played some good cricket.

“They’re coming into the game on the back of a great result at Essex but had been struggling for results, so we’ll need to get on top of them early.”

Cosgrove is a former Glamorgan favourite having enjoyed three prolific summers in Cardiff, and it was his presence at the crease in 2010 which was key in the county’s last win at this venue.

But while Cosgrove’s former teammates will be aware of his considerable talents as they look to follow-up last week’s fine win at Chelmsford, they will know that Leicestershire possess a number of threats after an impressive victory at the SSE SWALEC in the first meeting of the sides at the start of the season.

Clint McKay had a stormer in that game and moved to the 50-wicket mark for the second season in succession at Derbyshire, taking his victims at 24.12 apiece. Ben Raine also bowled well in Cardiff and is recalled to the squad following a strong performance against Derbyshire Second XI last week.

Neil Dexter (875) and Paul Horton (842), who led a final day run chase in Cardiff, are County’s highest scorers after Cosgrove.

The injury that paceman Richard Jones sustained at Derbyshire rules him out of contention for the visit of Glamorgan. Raine and left arm paceman Dieter Klein are part of Leicestershire’s 12-man squad along with the other ten players on duty at Derbyshire.

Glamorgan’s Kiran Carlson has had a terrific start in county cricket, claiming a five-wicket haul on debut at Northamptonshire before scoring a century in their brilliant win at Essex. By achieving these feats, the Cardiff-born teenager became the youngest player to have recorded a hundred and taken a five-for in first-class history.

Will Bragg and Timm van der Gugten are leading the way in weight of runs and wickets, scoring exactly 1,000 runs and claiming 47 victims respectively.

Leicestershire (from): Horton, Robson, Dearden, Cosgrove (capt), Dexter, Eckersley (w/k), Pettini, Raine, McKay, Sayer, Klein, Shreck.