Cosgrove leads solid batting display
Sat 8 Aug 2015
By Dominic Toner
Leicestershire finished the second day of the LV=CC match 304-8 at stumps in response to Derbyshire’s first innings score of 345.
The star man of the Leicestershire innings was skipper Mark Cosgrove who hit a quickfire 102 before being dismissed a ball later by Mark Footitt just before tea. The knock was his second century of the season following on from his hundred against Kent at Canterbury back in May.
Opener Angus Robson (53) also starred with his seventh 50 of the season but he was also dismissed by Derbyshire’s stand out bowler Footitt. In the evening session Niall O’Brien (60) also dug deep to hit a hard fought half-century to lift the Foxes beyond 250.
In fact it was a significant day for Footitt who took his 250th first class wicket thanks to his four-for and finished the day with figures of 21-10-49-4. Antonio Palladino (18-8-43-2) was also useful for the away side in taking two wickets.
In the morning session Derbyshire added 25 runs before being bowled out for 345 with their captain Wayne Madsen finishing unbeaten on 172.
Footitt added 13 to his overnight score to reach a best in county cricket of 34 before Charlie Shreck took his fourth wicket of the match when he removed his middle stump and finished with figures of 25-5-84-4.
Soon after, the final batsman Ben Cotton was dismissed by Clint McKay who cleanly bowled the tail ender and finished with the analysis of 27-8-51-3.
Openers Robson and Lewis Hill went about starting their first innings but England hopeful Footitt was looking dangerous for the visitors. The pressure paid off for Footitt who found the edge of Hill (5) in the seventh over and was caught by Wes Durston in the slips, leaving the Foxes 11-1 at that stage.
The new man in Ned Eckersley looked to get Robson a single in the 10th over but he was sent back and run out without scoring after Alex Hughes threw a direct hit from point.
Cosgrove joined opener Robson at the crease with the score at 15-2 and looked to rebuild the Leicestershire innings.
As seen with the fantastic Madsen innings, you would require a slice of luck on a pitch that rewarded good bowling and Robson, on 10 at the time, survived a half chance catch from Billy Godleman in the slips. He dived to his right one-handed but couldn’t cling on to the ball which subsequently raced to the boundary.
Robson and Cosgrove safely guided the Foxes to 70-2 at lunch with the opener bringing up his 50 with four consecutive boundaries just before the break.
The partnership was looking strong between the pair but unfortunately in the second over after lunch it was broken by Footitt, who found the edge of Robson and saw him caught behind by Harvey Hosein for a regulation catch.
With Cosgrove already settled at the crease, he began to play some confident stroke shots and he was well supported at the other end by the watchful Aadil Ali.
However Ali (10) saw his innings ended when he was trapped lbw by Palladino, who picked up his first wicket of the match and left the Foxes on 110-4.
Despite the fallen wicket Cosgrove remained confident and continued to play his shots and recorded his half-century in 67 balls with seven fours to his name while O’Brien played a similar supporting role.
So well in fact that Cosgrove, who remained ever so positive throughout his innings, reached his hundred in just 114 balls and him and O’Brien looked to be going in to tea in a strong position.
However after just reaching the milestone the very next ball Footitt took his next victim by having Cosgrove (102) caught by Madsen at first slip. New pairing O’Brien and Andrea Agathangelou managed to safely navigate the last few overs and Leicestershire went for tea with the score 220-5.
Derbyshire took their sixth wicket just after the interval thanks to Palladino who clean bowled Agathangelou (4) for his second wicket of the innings.
From here the away side began to assert some authority with just 11 runs scored from the 10 overs after tea. After weathering the storm O’Brien managed to kick on to a well deserved half-century with a flurry of boundaries to be 51 off 95 balls at that stage.
It was once again Footitt who found the breakthrough ending Ben Raine’s stubborn innings of 3 off 42 balls when he chipped the ball straight to Alex Hughes at mid-wicket.
Shiv Thakor got in on the act with the important wicket of O’Brien who was out lbw which left the Foxes 278-8. Rob Sayer (14) and McKay (17) shared an unbeaten ninth wicket stand worth 26 runs to edge the Foxes closer to Derbyshire’s score.
The pair batted carefully to keep Leicestershire right in this match and they will be hoping to reach and possibly overtake the Derbyshire total tomorrow morning.
* Thanks to Ed Melia for the photograph of Mark Cosgrove celebrating his 100.
