de Bruyn relishing brace of home games

Leicestershire CCC Head Coach Pierre de Bruyn was philosophical about the Foxes' first NatWest T20 Blast defeat of 2017 at the hands of Northants Steelbacks.

After the Foxes won their opening four games, the team had set up an opportunity for victory number five against the defending champions in front of a sizeable crowd at the Fischer County Ground.

The chase would by no means have been a walk in the park with a challenging run rate against a good attack.

But after losing too many wickets in the middle period of the first four fixtures, Leicestershire's approach had been to set up the game by keeping the scoreboard ticking over and having batsmen in hand in order to launch an assault in the final five overs.

It was a totally sensible gameplan but rain arrived before the final quarter of the innings. There was nothing between the sides - the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method had the Steelbacks just two runs ahead - but because five overs had been completed, the visitors took the two points.

To underline the narrow margins when D-L-S comes into play, the Steelbacks lost the following day because Notts Outlaws were ahead of the par score when a deluge arrived 5.1 overs into what would have been a testing pursuit of 196.

So Northants had been potentially one ball from losing to the Foxes and two away from claiming a share of the spoils at Trent Bridge - all in the space of 24 hours.

With everything in mind, de Bruyn feels that it is important not to focus too much on the 'what ifs' and instead look at the improvements made ahead of tomorrow night’s home fixture against Birmingham Bears (6.30pm start).

He said: “We set up the chase very well but the rain came and we were three runs short. We started well again but also learnt our lessons from previous games. We wanted to be more clinical in having wickets in hand and we were well on the way to chasing down the target.

“Could we have done things differently? Maybe the over before we came off was an opportunity but losing a wicket puts you on the back foot and that always goes through the back of your mind when there’s rain around.

“When you finish three runs short, you always think along the lines ‘you could have done this or maybe you should have done that’ but hindsight is a wonderful thing.

“I was very impressed with Colin Ackermann’s captaincy, he is vice-captain but took over the reins at short notice, as Clint [McKay] was touch-and-go in the build-up following the Durham game. He is a leader. He made good decisions under pressure in the field and had the right bowlers bowling at the right times.”

In a format where one ball - let alone an over or two - can change the entire course of a game, de Bruyn is keen to continue with an approach that has served the Foxes well: take positives, learn from mistakes and focus on performing in the next game.

The Bears had a terrific 20-run win against in-form Derbyshire Falcons on Sunday, a match where New Zealand duo Colin de Grandhomme and Grant Elliott – a familiar face to the Foxes faithful – shone. So the Foxes know they are in for a tough game once again, just like the first meeting of the sides at Edgbaston on July 16.

“It was one defeat in difficult circumstances for the batsmen," said de Bruyn. “It's important to remember that we are sitting pretty in this tournament. We've had a great start and we now have two more games at home [Durham Jets visit the FCG on Friday].

“We acknowledged that there was room for improvement after winning four games and it's just as important that we don't get too down after one loss.

“We know our conditions well, it will be a good wicket and a fast outfield so we’re looking forward to the challenge that Birmingham will present.

“Birmingham are a good side, they have experienced players and have nothing to lose. They will come out and play some good cricket like they did against Derbyshire and we have to be ready for that. We have played both Birmingham and Durham recently so know what to expect from both of them.”

McKay is part of an unchanged 15-man squad that has been named for the visit of the Bears and the Head Coach admits that selection will be difficult.

After a couple of games where spinners Callum Parkinson and Ackermann excelled alongside Cameron Delport, who has bowled his underrated medium pacers with plenty of slower variations to positive effect, it was the seamers that really came to the fore on Friday.

de Bruyn said: “I thought that our bowlers were excellent once again on Friday but it’s always good to have somebody like Clint back. He’s our top wicket-taker and leads by example.

“A couple of days rest has been good for Clint, the injury has improved a lot over the weekend and I am sure that he will be fine for the game. We did not want to risk him against Northants - especially with having Ben [Raine] and Zak [Chappell] out.

“It will be a tough selection call. Dieter [Klein] came in and did a good job, Gav [Griffiths] bowled well, and we have Mathew Pillans available after we managed to extend his loan.

“The loan was due to run out after the Northants game so it was important we got that sorted, particularly given the injuries we have suffered to our seam department.”

Foxes (from): McKay (capt), Aadil, Ackermann, Cosgrove, Delport, Eckersley, Griffiths, Hill, Klein, Parkinson, Pettini, Pillans, Ronchi, Sayer, Wells.