Healthy crowd enjoys Oakham School return
Thu 31 May 2018
RESULT | Royal London One-Day Cup game 6: Leicestershire Foxes 172 lost to Lancashire 174 for 1 by 9 wickets
SCORECARD | Available through ESPN Cricinfo
REACTION | Mark Cosgrove was interviewed after the game
HIGHLIGHTS | In-play highlights are available throughout the 2018 season
POINTS | Leicestershire Foxes 0, Lancashire 2
REPORT | A healthy crowd enjoyed the return of county cricket to Oakham School as Leicestershire Foxes lost to Lancashire by nine wickets in the Royal London One-Day Cup.
The visitors won the toss and elected to bowl on an overcast morning, and although Mark Cosgrove made 52 (98b), Lancashire bowled out the Foxes for 172.
Leicestershire faced a trial by spin in the middle period as Matt Parkinson, Stephen Parry and Livingstone returned impressive combined figures of 6 for 77 from 25 overs.
Varun Aaron (7-1-16-0) bowled well in the early exchanges but Livingstone struck the ball cleanly when it was his turn to bat, striking an unbeaten 90 off 56 balls in guiding Lancashire home alongside fellow half-centurion Haseeb Hameed (55*, 70b).
The Foxes made two changes to the side that lost at Worcestershire Rapids as Ateeq Javid and Dieter Klein came in for rested duo Gavin Griffiths and Ben Raine.
Conditions were not easy for batting first thing as mist was slow to lift during the morning before the sun burnt through in the afternoon.
Lancashire claimed a brace of wickets inside the opening three overs as Cameron Delport (2, 7b) was bowled by Joe Mennie before opening partner Paul Horton (2, 8b) edged Graham Onions to Livingstone at second slip.
Eckersley (15, 38b) and Cosgrove regrouped and that prompted a double bowling change as Jordan Clark and Parry bowled in tandem.
The slow left armer made the third breakthrough as Eckersley’s reverse-sweep ended in the hands of Alex Davies in the deep, bringing to an end the 42-run alliance.
Another stand developed between Cosgrove and Colin Ackermann, this one worth 41, but the Lancashire bowlers had kept the run rate below four per over.
The Red Rose County was able to call on a triumvirate of spinners with Livingstone and Matt Parkinson bowling along with Parry - and it proved difficult to score against.
As the Foxes looked to up the tempo, wickets fell with Parkinson in the thick of the action. Ackermann (24, 41b) was bowled by the leg-spinner before Neil Dexter (0, 3b) was held at mid-off by Josh Bohannon.
A fine stroke over mid-on took Cosgrove to a 64-ball fifty (3x4) - his third in succession in the competition - but he too fell to Matt Parkinson, stumped by Dane Vilas.
That left the Foxes at 101 for 6 and Javid (21, 49b) and Tom Wells (11, 26b) joined forces at the wicket. The slow bowlers continued to ask questions, and Wells lofted Matt Parkinson to long-on before Javid chipped Parry to cover.
There was a unique situation with Matt Parkinson bowling to his twin brother Callum before ending a fine spell with figures of 4 for 30.
Klein made 11 (8b) before being trapped lbw by the returning Onions, and Parry then completed his spell with figures of 2 for 30. Callum Parkinson batted well for 20 but was the last wicket to fall, nicking Mennie to Vilas, who took a very good diving catch.
Hameed and Alex Davies (23, 30b) got Lancashire off to a steady start, scoring 42 inside the powerplay before the left-hander top-edged Klein high to ‘keeper Eckersley.
That brought Livingstone to the wicket and he pulled a couple of maximums in progressing to 50 from 39 balls, also striking five fours in the milestone. Hameed generally used the pace to guide the ball around, and he too reached a half-century (65b, 5x4).
Livingstone’s fourth six took the stand into three figures and he struck another three maximums and a four in the 26th over to see his side over the line.
Leicestershire CCC would like to thank Oakham School for all of their hard work in staging the fixture, it was very much appreciated, and very good to be back at the venue.
TEAM | Delport, Horton (capt), Eckersley (wk), Ackermann, Cosgrove, Dexter, Wells, Javid, Parkinson, Klein, Aaron.
FIGURES | Aaron 7-1-16-0, Klein 6-0-37-1, Wells 4-0-42-0, Parkinson 6-0-29-0, Delport 2-0-26-0, Javid 0.5-0-22-0.
PHOTO | Thanks to Chris Roe for the photo of Mark Cosgrove batting.
* Our final Royal London One-Day Cup home group fixture is a floodlit game against Durham on Thursday, June 7. Advance tickets are available for £12 adults & £3 for under 16s HERE
