Impressive Foxes bounce back against Jets
Sat 4 Jun 2016
NatWest T20 Blast Matchday 4: Leicestershire Foxes v Durham Jets
Leicestershire Foxes produced a ruthless performance to record a second NatWest T20 Blast win of the campaign against Durham Jets at the Fischer County Ground.
In a role reversal from last night’s game at Derbyshire, the team restricted the Jets to 120 from their allocation, Ben Raine (3-24), Clint McKay (2-19) and Kevin O’Brien (1-19) taking six of the nine wickets to fall as part of economical spells.
Kevin O’Brien (28, 25b) and Raine (21, 23b) then made useful contributions before Umar Akmal (26*, 21b) and Niall O’Brien (32*, 22b) steered the ship home with 21 balls to spare.
It was a good evening for Raine as he was named man of the match against his former county, the all-rounder producing a sharp direct hit to dismiss Graham Clark to go alongside his fine work with leather and willow.
The Foxes were unchanged for the third game in a row and were fielding for the first time in this year's competition after Mark Pettini won the toss.
Durham showed two changes to the side that lost to Birmingham Bears last night as Calum MacLeod and Chris Rushworth came in for Paul Collingwood and Paul Coughlin.
It was a tough start for the Jets as the in-form Phil Mustard edged his first delivery to wicket-keeper Niall O’Brien, a McKay delivery shaping away nicely from the batsman.
In the next over captain Mark Stoneman missed a full delivery from Raine and was bowled, and a mix-up then left the visitors at 12-3.
Michael Richardson played a McKay delivery straight to Raine at short extra cover and called Clark (8) for an unlikely single, Raine’s perfect shy at the stumps leaving the unfortunate non-striker well short of his ground.
Richardson’s innings then came to an end on 7 when he lifted Kevin O’Brien to Pettini at mid-off and when Ryan Pringle (5) was bowled by Raine, missing an drive at a delivery which went on to hit the off stump, the Jets were in all kinds of trouble at 26-5.
In the circumstances Keaton Jennings (42, 41b) and MacLeod (25, 24b) could not afford to take risks as they looked to rebuild the innings, and though they added 58 runs for the sixth wicket, the duo did not increase the run rate to more than six an over.
MacLeod tried to up the tempo but fell to Neil Dexter as he top edged an attempted switch hit to McKay at short fine leg.
Three more wickets fell towards the back end of the innings as the Foxes took momentum into their innings, Kevin O’Brien having a hand in all of them.
The Ireland international calmly held two catches on the boundary to see the end of Scott Borthwick (21, 20b) and Barry McCarthy (0, 2b) off McKay and Raine respectively, inbetween those two dismissals running out Jennings with a direct hit as the batsman tried to regain his ground after being sent back.
It was always going to be tough for the Jets to defend their run a ball total but Rushworth picked up two quick wickets to give them hope.
First he took out the off stump of Mark Cosgrove (0) with the best ball of the match, and the seamer then squared up Pettini (8) and induced the Foxes opener to offer a simple caught and bowled opportunity.
Kevin O’Brien struck four boundaries in a lively knock and Raine found the fence on three occasions before Borthwick kept the visitors in the contest by dismissing both set batsmen after they played pull shots.
The former was caught by Richardson on the mid-wicket boundary and the left-handed Raine was well-held by MacLeod at short mid-wicket in the leg-spinner’s next over.
Leicestershire were now at 66-4 a ball before the halfway mark but Akmal and Niall O’Brien saw the team home with a confident alliance.
The duo shared an unbroken 57 with each batsman striking a maximum as the innings went on, and Niall O'Brien finished the game in style by hitting a four over extra cover on one knee. It meant the team bounced back from last night's defeat at the 3aaa County Ground in fine style.
The Foxes will travel to holders Lancashire Lightning next Friday night with four points from their first four outings but attention turns to the Royal London One-Day Cup before that mouthwatering encounter.
Leicestershire take on Durham Jets in their first 50-over game at the FCG tomorrow morning (11am) before a floodlit game at Warwickshire on Tuesday (2pm start).
Bowling figures for Leicestershire: McKay 4-0-19-2, Raine 4-0-24-3, K O'Brien 4-0-19-1, Wells 1-0-10-0, Naik 3-0-18-0, Dexter 4-0-27-1.
* Thanks to Ed Melia for the photo of Niall and Umar
