Foxes break first wicket partnership late on in day two
Sun 23 Aug 2020
DAY TWO | Leicestershire CCC 222 v Nottinghamshire CCC 221 for two
SCORECARD | Available from Cricinfo HERE.
REPORT | Haseeb Hameed and Ben Slater set a new first-wicket partnership record for Nottinghamshire against Leicestershire.
Alex Evans and Tom Taylor managed to remove the duo late in day two after a tough day in the field for the Running Foxes.
Day two commenced at the Fischer County Ground with Leicestershire looking to break the partnership of Hameed and Slater as quickly as possible.
The duo had already posted 48 runs in the 13 overs that they faced at the end of day one, and with the forecast looking dry for most of the day and with a drop in the wind, Nottinghamshire will be hoping for more of the same.
Gavin Griffiths and Tom Taylor formed the opening attack for the Running Foxes with Hameed on strike.
The first wicket stand for the visitors stood strong against the Running Foxes’ attack which saw the introduction of debutant James Weighell.
Hameed was leading the charge for Nottinghamshire as he raced away to a quick half-century coming from 80 balls including ten fours.
The attack kept battling away but struggled to put the batsmen under any sort of pressure as they now reached the 100-run mark in the 30th over.
Leicestershire’s lead was decreasing every over as Ben Slater joined his teammate on earning himself a half-century which came from a more conservative 103 balls including seven fours.
The duo then saw themselves through to the lunch interval with their first wicket partnership still intact after posting 144 without loss.
The teams re-emerged following the lunch break but could only fit in 15 minutes of cricket before rain began to descend on the Fischer County Ground forcing the players off the field of play.
A total of thirteen overs were lost during the rain delay with an early tea taken at 3:10pm.
Play finally got back underway 30 minutes later, however only 1.4 overs were possible before the rain returned to the Fischer County Ground as the players were forced to leave the field once again.
Six further overs were lost for the second rain delay of the day as Mike got the bowling back underway from the Bennett End.
Hameed and Slater were looking in great touch with only one half shout throughout the day which came from Evans as he looked to trap Hammed lbw.
The Running Foxes young seamer finally got his man, though, as he approached his century. Evans delivered one toward off-stump which looked to shape back at the last striking Hameed’s back pad after the batsman opted for the leave.
Evans finally had his man and Leicestershire had their breakthrough, seeing Hameed off for 87 with Nottinghamshire sitting on 200 for one.
The second wicket partnership only lasted 4.9 overs, a stark contrast to the first which lasted 63.3 as Colin Ackermann made sure on the second attempt after catching Slater’s (86) edge off the bowling of Taylor.
The duo of Ben Duckett and Joe Clarke then faced 4.5 overs before the players were removed from the field due to bad light, and the umpires forced to call it a day with 10.5 overs reamining in day.
Nottinghamshire finish the day on 221 for two, one run shy of Leicestershire's first innings total.
Figures (1st inns) | Trego 22-9-46-3, Chappell 20-5-54-2, James 9-0-43-1, Barber 12-1-48-2, Patel 11.1-3-25-2
Taylor 20-5-35-1, A.Evans 13-1-56-1, Griffiths 16-4-44-0, Mike 12.1-3-29-0, Weighell 6-0-29-0, Ackermann 6-1-17-0
TEAM | Hassan Azad, Sam Evans, Harry Dearden, Colin Ackermann (c), George Rhodes, Harry Swindells (wk), Tom Taylor, Ben Mike, James Weighell, Gavin Griffiths.
Nottinghamshire CCC | Haseeb Hameed, Ben Slater, Ben Duckett, Joe Clarke, Steven Mullaney (c), Peter Trego, Tom Moors (wk), Samit Patel, Zak Chappell, Lyndon James, Tom Barber
IMAGES | Thanks to John Mallett of Outside Off for providing the images throughout the game.
