Cosgrove's 80 in vain for Foxes
Sun 7 May 2017
Royal London One-Day Cup Matchday 5: Notts Outlaws v Leicestershire Foxes
RESULT | Notts Outlaws (2 points) beat Leicestershire Foxes by 6 wickets
REACTION | Mark Cosgrove spoke to BBC Radio Leicester's Richard Rae, the interview is available HERE
REPORT | Mark Cosgrove made 80 but Leicestershire Foxes suffered a second consecutive Royal London One-Day Cup outground loss, this time by six wickets to Notts Outlaws at Welbeck.
Leicestershire looked in good shape at 179-4 in the 35th over with Cosgrove batting beautifully but the left-hander was the first of six wickets to fall for 38 runs as the Foxes were bowled out for 217 inside 44 overs.
Australia seamer James Pattinson, who took three wickets in four balls at one stage, finished with 4-42 off nine overs, while Harry Gurney (8-1-29-3) also bowled well.
All-rounder Samit Patel (79, 60b, 14x4) played the key role in the chase, sharing stands in excess of 50 with both Riki Wessels and Brendan Taylor (51*, 79b), who then added 80 for the fourth wicket with fellow half-centurion Steven Mullaney (50, 44b).
The Foxes made one adjustment to the line-up as Clint McKay returned to lead the side, the Victorian coming in for Gavin Griffiths.
Notts Outlaws were unchanged and had a seam attack including international duo Stuart Broad and Pattinson, although Luke Fletcher and Gurney were handed the new ball and did a good job as the ball moved around in overcast, cool conditions in Market Warsop.
Cameron Delport (8) got the scoreboard moving with a top edge over third man for six. It was part of an interesting innings for the left-hander, who broke the middle stump with a straight drive in the third over and also sent the off pole flying with a similar stroke in the next offering before edging Fletcher through to captain Chris Read in the fifth.
A second wicket fell at the end of the next over as Aadil Ali (0) nicked Gurney to Read, the Foxes now needing to rebuild after slipping to 18-2. Cosgrove flicked a boundary through mid-wicket as the score progressed to 33-2 after the powerplay.
Pattinson and Broad came on to bowl in tandem but the Foxes batsmen played them well. Pettini hit two boundaries in Pattinson’s opening over, including a flowing cover drive, and also found the ropes in Broad’s first offering.
Cosgrove cut down to third man as runs continued to flow and, after five overs from the duo, Read decided to take pace off the ball in introducing Mullaney in place of Broad.
Read kept Pattinson operating from the Spion Kop End and the duo combined for the third wicket, Pettini (39, 58b) getting a feather of an inside edge and the skipper taking a fine diving catch to end the 65-run alliance.
The 100 came up at the start of the 23rd over before Ned Eckersley (23, 26b) manoeuvred Mullaney down to backward square-leg to open his boundary account, but the batsman departed in the 26th, seeing his off stump clipped by Broad.
Spin was introduced for the first time in the following over, Patel brought on from the Sookholme Road End, and Cosgrove then guided Broad past the ‘keeper to register his third Royal London One-Day Cup half-century in five innings. This landmark came from 58 deliveries, the latest boundary being his fourth.
The left-hander went on to belt the seamer through mid-wicket, over extra and behind square-leg, and also lofted Patel over straight mid-wicket as he doubled his boundary tally. Hill struck Patel for back-to-back fours in the 33rd and things were looking promising.
However, the partnership ended at 58 as a leading edge from Cosgrove (80, 80b) off Gurney looped into the air and Patel ran in to take a diving catch in the covers, and it sparked a wicket cluster.
The returning Pattinson took three wickets in the space of four deliveries. He initially conceded two boundaries as Hill cut away expertly and drove through mid-wicket before causing some damage.
He struck with successive deliveries with identical dismissals, Hill (30) and Rob Sayer (0) lbw to full deliveries. Although Tom Wells (3) saw off the hat-trick ball, the all-rounder was dismissed by the first ball of Pattinson’s next over, pulling a bouncer on to the wicket.
Left arm seamer Gurney then struck for a third time, Zak Chappell (1) caught by Patel at backward point, before McKay (14) and Klein (10*) shared 23 for the last wicket, hitting a boundary apiece. McKay was then bowled by Broad to bring the innings to its conclusion.
Chappell got the Foxes off to a flyer, trapping Michael Lumb (0) lbw with the very first ball of the chase, before Patel settled the Outlaws with boundaries through backward square-leg and extra cover.
Wessels then picked up two fours in the backward point region before Patel hit three boundaries in the seventh, including two powerful pulls. The batsman then drove in the arc between cover point and extra on five occasions in moving to a 30-ball half-century, Patel now having ten fours to his name with the Outlaws at 70-1 after the powerplay.
A breakthrough was made by Wells as he enticed Wessels (20) into a drive, the ball ending in the hands of Hill to leave the Outlaws at 73-2. The wicket did not stop the flow of boundaries, Taylor and Patel bringing up the 100 in the 17th over.
Patel and Taylor continued to play good strokes, including a number of drives through mid-off, as the alliance reached 58 before the former sliced Chappell to substitute James Sykes at deep extra cover.
The Outlaws were 131-3 in the 23rd over with Mullaney joining Taylor and after the 150 was recorded in the 27th, Taylor played a cheeky shot over Hill’s head off the returning Klein, his fifth boundary. Mullaney then put his foot on the accelerator, striking three fours and two straight sixes as the partnership passed 50.
The batsmen reached their respective half-centuries in the 36th over, Taylor first to the milestone from 71 balls (5x4) and Mullaney following suit off the next delivery (42b, 6x4, 2x6). Mullaney then holed out to sub Sykes at deep mid-wicket off Aadil before Notts reached their target with 11.4 overs to spare.
It means the Foxes have now taken four points from the opening five games. The team are next in action next Friday, when we host a floodlit fixture against Northants Steelbacks, a game that under 16s can again come to the Fischer County Ground for free.
TEAM | Pettini, Delport, Aadil, Cosgrove, Eckersley, Hill (wk), Wells, Sayer, Chappell, McKay (capt), Klein.
Bowling figures for Leicestershire: Chappell 7-0-44-2, Klein 6-0-38-0, McKay 8-1-24-0, Wells 9.2-0-54-1, Delport 3-0-18-0, Aadil 5-0-31-1.
