Foxes lose low-scoring affair
Fri 3 Jun 2016
NatWest T20 Blast Matchday 3: Derbyshire Falcons v Leicestershire Foxes
Jimmy Neesham had a strong all-round game as Derbyshire Falcons won a low-scoring NatWest T20 Blast encounter by four wickets at the 3aaa County Ground.
The New Zealand international took 3-26 as Leicestershire Foxes were dismissed for 120 but Neil Dexter, who top-scored with 34 (33b), then took 2-2 in his first over as the Falcons slipped to 54-5 after nine overs.
A sixth wicket stand of 49 between Alex Hughes and Neesham, who made a crucial unbeaten 29 off 22 balls, swung the game in the Falcons favour.
Former Fox Shiv Thakor added 14 not out off six deliveries to his career-best T20 haul of 3-17 as the hosts got home with two overs to spare despite Clint McKay taking 2-20 off his allocation.
Before the game started, Derbyshire announced that Elite Performance Director Graeme Welch had resigned and influential captain Wes Durston missed out through injury.
Ex-Leicestershire batsman John Sadler, who used to excel in this format for the Foxes, took charge of coaching affairs with Alex Hughes named as skipper for the evening.
The Foxes named the same side that won convincingly at Yorkshire but they ran into problems at 49-6 in the ninth over after being invited to bat first by Hughes.
County lost both openers within eleven balls, captain Mark Pettini (5) and Mark Cosgrove (1) bowled by Wayne Madsen and Neesham respectively.
A third wicket followed as Kevin O’Brien (9) holed out to mid-on in the New Zealander’s second over and Neesham remained in the action despite coming out of the attack, taking a sharp catch at extra cover as Thakor picked up the key wicket of Umar Akmal (0).
Ben Raine (20, 21b) had struck a couple of fours in the powerplay, which ended with the Foxes at 36-4, but the left-hander fell in the eighth over. He swept to Neil Broom at deep backward square leg as Matthew Critchley (4-0-18-1) struck with his very first delivery.
The Foxes were looking for experienced duo Niall O’Brien (4) and Dexter to rebuild but the former was brilliantly caught by a diving Chesney Hughes at mid-on from the bowling of namesake Alex. The score was just 53-6 at the midway point with Dexter and Lewis Hill now together.
Momentum gathered as Leicestershire scored 31 off the next three overs, Hill striking Andy Carter for the first maximum of the innings over long-leg in the 11th before Dexter took ten off leg-spinner Critchley’s third offering, including a boundary and three twos off four consecutive deliveries.
The in-form Hill cut Alex Hughes for four before taking a three at the back end of the 13th over but Thakor returned to cause more damage.
Hill (18, 13b) departed at the start of the over, a leading edge looping to Chesney Hughes at mid-off, while the all-rounder then removed the middle stump of Tom Wells (1) four deliveries later with the score now at 87-8.
Dexter and McKay knocked the ball around sensibly to take the score into three figures in the 17th over.
All-rounder Dexter tried to hit out in the closing stages but was denied a six by a brilliant piece of fielding by Madsen in the 18th and fell in the penultimate over, Broom cleaning up on the mid-wicket boundary as Neesham claimed a third victim.
McKay finished on 15 not out while Jigar Naik made 5 before being run out off the final delivery as he tried to complete a second run.
The Foxes needed early breakthroughs and McKay and Raine produced the goods, reducing the Falcons to 14-3 in the third over.
Hamish Rutherford (8) was caught at slip by Cosgrove off Raine in the second over before McKay induced two outside edges in two successive deliveries. Billy Godleman (3) was pocketed by Niall O’Brien before Broom was the second batsman to be sharply held by Cosgrove.
Pettini continued to attack, keeping his new ball bowlers on throughout the powerplay with catchers in position.
Madsen looked in good touch, hitting three glorious cover drives which gathered 11 runs in total. Chesney Hughes then pulled a maximum as the rebuild continued. The Falcons progressed to 36-3 after six overs - exactly the same tally as the Foxes but with a wicket fewer.
Chesney Hughes struck his second six - a hefty blow over long-on that went into the construction site where the new media centre is taking shape - and the 50 came up as Madsen just cleared Pettini at cover off Wells to record a third four.
The stand had yielded 39 in 5.4 overs but Dexter (3-0-16-2) then dismissed both set batsmen in the space of four deliveries, sneaking one through the defences of Chesney Hughes’ (19, 16b) before having Madsen (23, 23b) brilliantly held by Akmal at backward point.
Derbyshire were now at 54-5 after nine overs and the Foxes had their tails up. However, Alex Hughes and Neesham combined to take the game away from the team.
The left-handed Neesham pulled a couple of deliveries to the boundary and Alex Hughes struck Kevin O’Brien back over his head for when he came on to bowl the 13th over.
Alex Hughes followed that up by hitting two consecutive fours off the returning Raine before Neesham again picked up a boundary in his favoured mid-wicket area.
Although Alex Hughes (27, 29b) was dismissed by Naik, calmly taken by Raine on the boundary, Neesham eradicated any glimmer of hope by striking a maximum before the 17th over was out.
It reduced the target to 12 off three overs and Thakor finished with a flourish, hitting three boundaries off his final four deliveries. The Foxes will be looking for an instant bounce back against Durham Jets at the Fischer County Ground tomorrow evening (5.30pm start).
Bowling figures for Leicestershire: McKay 4-0-20-2, Raine 4-0-30-1, Naik 3-0-23-1, Wells 2-0-14-0, Dexter 3-0-16-2, K O’Brien 2-0-20-0.
