Foxes produce all-round performance to beat Lions

Leicestershire Foxes put in an excellent all-round performance as they beat bizhub Highveld Lions at Bidvest Wanderers Stadium in their second game of the pre-season tour.

Centurions Lewis Hill and Tom Wells shared 160 for the fifth wicket as the Foxes put a healthy 350-7 on the board.

Hill retired on 100 while Wells struck nine maximums in his score of 118 - the joint third highest amount of sixes in an individual 50-over innings at the Bullring.

Wickets were shared in a Lions reply that was cut short by fading light. The hosts reached 248-6 after 35 overs, therefore losing by 17 runs on the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method in what was another good test for the Foxes.

Tour Captain Ned Eckersley won the toss and elected to bat first. There had been lots of rain in the Gauteng province in the previous 24 hours but the groundstaff worked wonders and conditions were good when the game got underway.

Eckersley (10) hit the game’s first boundary over mid-on but fell to Avavuya Myoli in the fourth over as he chipped a catch to cover.

Aadil Ali again looked in good touch as he formed a partnership with Paul Horton and the score passed 50 in the 11th over.

The second wicket was unfortunate as Ali (29) got a touch to a leg-side bouncer from Wiaan Mulder and ‘keeper Mangaliso Mosehle completed the dismissal. Horton (9) was then bowled by slow left arm spinner Bjorn Fortuin to leave the Foxes at 60-3.

Burke (16) and Hill regrouped against a triumvirate of spin but fellow left armer Aaron Phangiso claimed his first wicket when the all-rounder skied to point.

Hill hit a free hit from leg-spinner Eddie Leie over mid-wicket for the game’s first maximum and Wells also clattered a six over mid-on. Clearing the boundary was certainly a theme of his innings.

The duo were playing nicely and after extending their alliance to 50, Hill recorded his half-century from 58 balls (4x4, 1x6).

Drinks were taken after 34 overs and, in the next offering, the stand reached three figures. Hill then picked up a brace of successive sixes through backward square-leg and mid-wicket respectively as the score moved beyond 200.

Wells took 11 runs off three consecutive deliveries to move to 50 from 47 deliveries (1x4, 3x6) and the stand reached 150 (127 balls) in the 41st over.

Hill then progressed to a terrific hundred from 98 balls (5x4, 4x6) before retiring his innings to bring Ben Raine to the crease.

The Foxes reached 280-5 after 45 overs and then collected 70 off the last thirty balls. Raine (7) lost his wicket in the 46th over when reverse-sweeping Fortuin to backward point.

It took Wells just 28 balls to move from 50 to 100 and the landmark was registered with the seventh maximum of the innings. The 75-ball effort also included three fours.

Two more sixes followed from Wells in the 48th but the batsman departed before the over was out, holing out to deep mid-wicket off Myoli.

Neil Dexter (18*) and Zak Chappell (12*) ensured the chase would be over seven runs per over and the latter then gave the Foxes an ideal start. He bowled a snorter that bounced sharply and Rassie van der Dussen could only feather through to Hill.

Dominic Hendricks scored 18 before hooking Dieter Klein to Chappell at long-leg, pairing South Africa duo Stephen Cook and Temba Bavuma together.

Cook looked in particularly good touch, especially driving in the arc from cover to mid-off, and he posted 50 from 39 deliveries.

The introduction of Callum Parkinson helped to slow the rate and he picked up a success in his third over, having Bavuma nicely held by Charlie Shreck at slip. Seamer Richard Jones then trapped the dangerman in front for 59 to leave Lions at 103-4 in the 16th over.

Nicky van der Bergh and Mosehle regrouped with the latter doing the majority of the scoring as the partnership developed, including a brace of sixes in the 21st over. The ‘keeper raced to 50 from just 32 balls as the Lions were ahead of the rate at 184-5 at the halfway stage.

However, van der Bergh didn’t want to be left behind and he upped the tempo too, moving to 40 by the time the alliance moved into three figures. His half-century arrived from 45 balls and included eight boundaries.

Mosehle’s bright innings of 75 (49 balls) came to an end when Klein took a super diving catch at third man in Burke’s opening over, leaving the Lions at 237-5 after 30.5 overs. A second key wicket then fell as Raine trapped van der Bergh leg before wicket at the start of the 34th.

The light then closed in shortly before 5pm local time with the D-L-S par score being 265 at that point.

Leicestershire (batting order): Ali, Eckersley (capt), Horton, Burke, Hill, Wells, Raine, Dexter, Chappell, Parkinson, Jones, Griffiths, Klein, Shreck

Bowling figures: Chappell 6-0-40-1, Klein 4-0-41-1, Parkinson 7-0-41-1, Jones 5-0-36-1, Raine 5-0-22-1, Shreck 2-0-25-0, Griffiths 3-0-26-0, Burke 3-0-16-1.