Foxes suffer Edgbaston defeat
Tue 7 Jun 2016
Royal London One-Day Cup Matchday 2: Warwickshire v Leicestershire Foxes
Warwickshire consigned Leicestershire Foxes to a second successive Royal London One-Day Cup defeat as they chased down a target of 238 for the loss of one wicket.
Having been put in to bat at Edgbaston, Leicestershire looked in decent shape at 129-2 with Kevin O’Brien (77, 70b) and Mark Cosgrove (34,49b) again enjoying each other’s company at the crease.
The duo shared 92 for the third wicket but the pendulum swung as the Foxes lost five batsmen in the space of 24 deliveries. Four batsmen were dismissed while the unfortunate Niall O’Brien had to leave the field due to a suspected calf injury.
Rob Taylor, who posted a career-best with the ball against Durham, recorded his highest score with the willow in this format (62, 66b) to help the Foxes recover.
Warwickshire openers Will Porterfield (75, 83b) and Sam Hain (105 not out, 124b) quickly got in their stride though, sharing 169 to break the back of the chase. Laurie Evans made an aggressive unbeaten 45 (39b) to help seal a home win with nine overs and as many wickets in hand.
Leicestershire made one change to the team that lost to Durham as James Sykes came in for fellow spinner Jigar Naik.
The hosts got off to a good start as Oliver Hannon-Dalby trapped Neil Dexter in front of the stumps without a run on the board.
Kevin O’Brien picked up where he left off against the Jets, striking three fours in the fourth over of the game from Hannon-Dalby before launching a six in the next over.
A partnership with Pettini was developing nicely but a second wicket fell in the seventh over with the score at 37, the captain (13, 20b) being caught off the leading edge by Hain off Rikki Clarke (10-2-35-1).
Kevin O’Brien hit a four in each of the 9th and 10th overs and the 50 partnership was then recorded with Mark Cosgrove. The left-hander scored exactly half of the stand with two fours, was then recorded.
The Ireland star went on to post a second successive List A half-century for the club in the 17th over. It came from the 49th ball of his innings with a sixth four in Jeetan Patel’s first offering - and the batsman then smashed the off-spinner’s next delivery for a maximum.
Another four and six arrived for Kevin O’Brien off international teammate Boyd Rankin while Cosgrove struck Patel to the fence as the Foxes continued to go well.
However, a dramatic 24-ball period swung the game in Warwickshire’s favour.
Cosgrove (34) was yorked by Rankin (10-0-37-2 before Niall O’Brien was forced to retire hurt after pulling up when taking a single. Kevin O’Brien then swept Patel (10-1-46-3) to Jonathan Trott at the start of the 25th over, so the Foxes had lost three key batsmen in the space of six deliveries.
Leicestershire went on to lose two further wickets in two consecutive deliveries as Lewis Hill (1) was caught by Clarke at slip the end of Patel’s fifth over before Tom Wells (2) fell in the same manner off Rankin at the start of the 28th over.
The Foxes were now at 134-6 after 27.1 overs before Taylor led a fightback by sharing stands of 41, 34 and 28 for the last three wickets with Ben Raine, Clint McKay and Sykes respectively.
Raine struck his second ball for six - Patel the bowler to suffer at the hands of a short boundary - and Taylor picked up his first boundary, but runs were generally accumulated in ones and twos. The alliance was ended as Patel took a return catch offered by Raine to claim a third wicket in his seventh over.
McKay (14) helped Taylor add 34 more useful runs - the left-hander striking his second six off Hannon-Dalby - but the Victorian was run out for 14 (20b) at the end of the 45th over.
Leicestershire were effectively nine wickets down with five overs to go but the left-handed duo of Taylor and Sykes battled gamely.
Taylor progressed to a 63-ball 50 (1x4, 2x6) before clubbing two further maximums off consecutive Chris Wright deliveries. He was caught in the deep by Porterfield off the seamer's next ball and Warwickshire were set 238 to win.
McKay produced an early scare as Hain edged through the cordon but he went on to play a fine innings. Porterfield was quicker out of the blocks initially; the batsman was not afraid to use his feet and looked strong on the drive both square of the wicket and in the arc between extra cover and mid-off.
The Irishman struck five boundaries in the powerplay as Warwickshire progressed to 45-0 after ten overs and Hain also picked off anything loose. The duo each struck a four in the 11th over before a change of pace arrived in the 13th as Sykes entered the attack.
Warwickshire’s openers did not allow him to settle and a four was scored of each of his first three overs, with Hain also stylishly driving Raine to the boundary.
Porterfield twice drove Dexter to the fence in the 18th over as he took his boundary tally into double figures, the first of which recorded a 51-ball half-century.
The score moved into three figures at the end of the 20th and the next over saw 15 runs scored, including two sets of five wides. Hain then registered 50 from 73 balls with his eighth four as McKay returned and the young right-hander went on to loft a drive for four to take the stand to 150 in the 28th over.
The openers took their stand to 169 before Taylor claimed the first wicket, umpire Jeremy Lloyds raising the finger after Porterfield missed a delivery that was heading for the stumps.
Leicestershire would have hoped that a wicket would stem the rate but Evans struck seven fours and a six in a lively knock and Hain finished the game in style, successive strokes for four and six taking him to three figures from 124 balls (12x4, 1x6).
The Foxes now return to NatWest T20 Blast on Friday evening at Lancashire Lightning before their third Royal London One-Day Cup encounter at Northants Steelbacks on Sunday.
Leicestershire bowling figures: Raine 7-0-36-0, McKay 7-1-37-0, Taylor 6-0-36-1, Sykes 9-0-60-0, Dexter 6-0-26-0, Cosgrove 2-0-17-0, K O'Brien 4-0-29-0.
