Foxes claim second victory in thriller

RLC 6 | Leicestershire Foxes 253 for nine v Surrey 225 “ Foxes won by 1 run (DLS Method)

SCORECARD | Available from Cricinfo HERE

POINTS | Leicestershire Foxes 2, Surrey 0

REPORT | Harry Swindells (75), Arron Lilley (41) and Ed Barnes (33no) recorded career best List A scores as Surrey squeezed the Running Foxes to an innings total of 253 for nine.

Ben Mike claimed two wickets in the final over to seal victory over Surrey in emphatic style.

The news from the middle at the Uptonsteel County Ground was that the visitors won the toss and inserted the Running Foxes with rain forecast later in the day “ similar to the forecast against Glamorgan on Thursday, August 5.

Cameron Steel and James Taylor came in for the visitors to make their respective List A bows for the Club.

The opening partnership of Patel and Swindells got off to a studious start, with the first boundary coming from the final ball of the fifth over.

Swindells recorded the four after flicking Dunn away through square leg and over the rope.

Patel then joined his teammate in opening his boundary account from the next over after pulling Clarke away over square leg towards the manual scoreboard.

The Foxes’ opening partnership soon came to an end, after recording 31 runs as Clarke set the trap with a short ball which Patel pulled straight to the hands of Dunn at long leg.

Patel departed for 20 off 31 balls, as Lilley joined Swindells (11no, 17b) in the middle.

Two balls after Patel’s wicket, Swindells clattered Dunn over midwicket for the first maximum of the day. His partner in the middle, Lilley, opened his boundary account and brought up the Foxes’ fifty with back-to-back boundaries off Moriarty’s first over of the day, in the eleventh of the innings.

County recorded 20 runs off the 15th over, off the bowling of Moriarty as Lilley recorded two sixes over midwicket including a maximum that flew over The Meet and into the outdoor nets.

The next over saw Lilley record the second wicket partnership’s fiftieth run after a thick edge down to third man for four off McKerr.

Lilley went on to record a career-best score of 41 (28b) before being caught by David as the Foxes man looked to pull Taylor away for four.

Leicestershire were 88 for two as Hill joined Swindells in the middle.

Swindells went on to record County’s 100 as he flicked Taylor down to backward square leg for the single required.

Back-to-back boundaries then came up for the Foxes wicketkeeper, as he accelerated his score towards his second List A half-century of the season.

The third Leicestershire wicket fell three overs later, as Hill looked to reverse sweep Steel away but guided his shot straight to Reifer at short third man and departed for a 15-ball 11.

Rhodes joined Swindells in the middle and helped the Foxes opener on his way to recording his second List A half-century of the season.

The fifty came up as he pushed Steel into the off side for the single required, with the fifty coming in 69 balls, including four fours and one six.

The next ball saw the fourth Foxes' wicket fall, as Rhodes clipped Steel’s delivery to the hands of Patel at short midwicket for three, and Kimber joined Swindells in the middle with Leicestershire on 132 for four.

Swindells then went on to record a new career best score in List A cricket, eclipsing his previous best of 69 set against Warwickshire three games earlier.

The fifth wicket fell soon after for Leicestershire, as Kimber (10, 26b) joined his teammates back in the pavilion after Steel managed to keep one low and crash into the bottom of middle and off.

Mike emerged with Leicestershire on 166 for five to join Swindells.

The sixth wicket partnership lasted just 15 deliveries, though, before the crucial wicket of Swindells fell for 75 (96b).

The Foxes man looked to sweep Steel down to fine leg but got a top edge on to it and lofted it to Taylor at short fine leg. The anchoring wicket was up for the Foxes as Ahmed joined Mike in the middle with Leicestershire on 177 for six.

Only six further runs were added from the seventh wicket partnership, as a mix up in the middle between Ahmed and Mike saw the former run out for three after Patel’s direct hit of the non-striker’s stumps from inside the ring on the offside.

Just nine runs were then added for the eighth wicket partnership before Mike fell to Moriarty and being trapped infront for 11 (26b). Griffiths and Barnes formed the ninth wicket partnership with Leicestershire approaching their 200, on 192 for eight.

Griffiths emerged to join Barnes in the middle with just under ten overs left in the day. The duo recorded 25 runs from 29 balls before Griffiths was caught behind off the bowling of McKerr.

Leicestershire were 217 for nine with 4.2 overs remaining as Davis joined Barnes in the middle.

The duo recorded the Foxes’ joint second highest partnership of the innings, of 36 off 27 deliveries, to bring the innings to a close on 253 for nine.

Davis brought the innings to a close with his first boundary of the day after cracking McKerr away through extra cover for four, as he finished not out on 15 from 12, alongside Barnes (33no, 36b).

Barnes then opened the bowling for Leicestershire from the pavilion end and struck with his fifth ball of the day, after Steel guided his delivery straight to the hands of Kimber at midwicket for a five-ball duck.

The Foxes man recorded a wicket maiden as Surrey got their reply underway.

Players were then removed from the field of play at 15:03 for a total of 26 minutes. Play then resumed with Surrey requiring 244 from a total of 45 overs.

Five further overs were bowled by Leicestershire before the players were once again pulled off the field of play.

The delay lasted 24 minutes this time before play restarted, with the revised target of 227 from a total of 39 overs.

Two overs into the third passage of play in the Surrey innings, Patel brought up his fifty, coming from just 27 balls, including eight fours and two sixes.

His fifty was brought up with his eighth four of the innings as he pulled Griffiths away to deep backward square leg where Lilley was standing. The Foxes man could not take the catch though and saw the ball pop up out of his hands and over the rope.

The dangerous innings came to an end seven balls later though, after Ahmed got one to straighten back into the front pad of the batsman to dismiss him for a 33-ball 52.

Wickets kept falling for Leicestershire, as Rhodes chipped in with his first wicket of the match after beating Geddes’ advances down the wicket. The delivery nipped away to beat the bat, leaving Swindells an easy stumping to see him off for 21 (36b).

Surrey were now 89 for three as Clarke joined skipper Smith in the middle.

The fourth wicket partnership continued in the same vain of form as the previous three, scoring runs at a rate as Clarke opened his boundary account from the second ball he faced.

The partnership soon brought up their fifty partnership off just 54 balls and 31 minutes in the middle together.

The fifty was then brought up for Clarke after he turned Davis off his toes down to square leg to run the single required. The half-century came from 41 balls and included six fours and two sixes.

The fourth wicket partnership was growing from strength to strength as they became the most fruitful partnership of the innings, surpassing the 74 recorded by Geddes and Patel.

The stand went as far as 84 before Ahmed brought it to a close. Smith (34, 44b) was the man to go after he drove the Foxes man away down to long on. The Surrey man, though, got underneath the drive and gave Lilley enough chance to run round and take the grab as Ahmed claimed his second of the game.

The fifth wicket soon followed the fourth, as the new batsman at the crease, Reifer, was making his way back to the pavilion.

Mike was the man to claim the scalp after enticing the Surrey batsman into a nibble which was caught behind by Swindells for 2 (8b).

Surrey were now 183 for five, with the game beginning to look interesting with just eight overs remaining.

The sixth wicket duo put on a stand of 19 from 19 deliveries, with the rate required around a-run-a-ball.

The wicket to fall was David (11, 10b) as Swindells was on hand once again to pouch the nick off as Barnes claimed his second of the game.

McKerr joined Clarke in the middle with Surrey requiring 25 runs from the remaining 30 balls.

The new batsman in the middle survived just 11 deliveries before falling to the bowling of Griffiths as Lilley was under the high drive at deep midwicket to take the catch.

Griffiths spurned chances to claim the crucial wicket of Clarke via run out the two balls leading upto the wicket of McKerr.

Clarke soon came back to haunt Griffiths after relieving the pressure on Surrey and cracking the Foxes man straight back over his head for his third six of the day “ leaving Surrey requiring four runs from the final six balls of the match.

The wicket of Clarke was up next, though, after Mike pinned the man who looked like he was going to steer Surrey to victory, infront for 82, and all of a sudden, the Running Foxes had their second victory of the 2021 Royal London Cup in their sights.

Surrey had two new batsmen in the middle in Moriarty and Dunn and required three runs from the final five deliveries.

A single off the third ball put Moriarty on strike. The duo were looking to run up the remaining runs, but Moriarty soon found himself in trouble after pushing Mike’s delivery towards the oncoming Lilley at mid on.

The Foxes man grabbed the ball and under-armed it towards the non-striker’s end to see Moriarty off for 1 (2b) leaving Surrey requiring two runs from the final two balls with Taylor making his way out to join Dunn.

Dunn was on strike as Mike and Hill conferred about the field placement. The fielders, though, weren’t needed after Dunn could only get an inside edge on the delivery and watch the ball clip the top of his off stump as Mike sealed the Running Foxes’ second victory of the 2021 Royal London Cup in emphatic style “ Leicestershire winning by 1 run via the DLS method. 

FIGURES | Dunn 8-0-39-0, Clarke 6-0-20-1, Moriarty 9-0-57-1, McKerr 9-0-61-1, Taylor 6-0-27-1, Steel 10-1-33-4, Patel 2-0-15-0

Barnes 8-1-34-2, Davis 5-0-48-0, Griffiths 6-0-50-1, Ahmed 8-1-25-2, Rhodes 4-0-15-1, Lilley 2-0-11-0, Mike 5.5-0-34-3

FOXES | Patel, Swindells (wk), Lilley, Hill (C), Rhodes, Kimber, Mike, Ahmed, Davis, Barnes, Griffiths

SURREY | Steel, Geddes, Patel, Smith (C, wk), Clarke, Reifer, David, McKerr, Taylor, Moriarty, Dunn

IMAGES | Thanks to John Mallett of Outside Off for providing images throughout the game.

MATCH SPONSOR | Thanks to Durant Cricket for sponsoring our Royal London Cup fixture against Surrey.