Lancashire land LV=CC win
Wed 20 May 2015
Lancashire’s bowlers produced a remarkable performance on the final afternoon as the Red Rose county landed a 244-run win in the LV=CC match at Grace Road.
Ashwell Prince guided Lancashire to 203-5 declared in their second innings with 76 not out and that set Leicestershire 323 to win from 59 overs.
Opening bowlers Tom Bailey (9-5-12-5) and Kyle Jarvis (9-5-10-2) wreaked havoc, reducing Leicestershire to 29-7 after they had been 20 without loss.
Clint McKay played nicely to top score with 24 but County were bowled out for 78 in the 31st over.
Lancashire started on 39-2 with a lead of 158, and after a quiet start, Alviro Petersen hit a brace of consecutive fours in the sixth over of the morning.
County then hit back with two wickets for the addition of one run as Ben Raine trapped Petersen (34) lbw and McKay also claimed a leg before verdict against Steve Croft (1).
Prince and Alex Davies (54 from 57 balls) then shared a terrific stand of 107 in 18.1 overs for the fifth wicket. Prince clipped the first couple of Rob Taylor’s spell to the leg-side boundary as he moved into the thirties and Davies then collected two successive fours in the next over.
Eleven came off the 31st over of the innings, including two Davies fours, as the stand reached fifty, and the ‘keeper then smashed a four down the ground in the 34th over. A well-timed pull from Davies in the next over also found the fence as Lancashire pressed their foot on the gas.
The left-handed Prince progressed to 50 from 85 balls with his fifth boundary before the players left the field because of a combination of rain and bad light. Lunch was taken with the score on 146-4 at 12.45pm and play resumed at 1.30pm with one over having been lost.
Prince hit the first ball of the restart through backward square leg for four as Lancashire eyed up a declaration. An inside edge for four by Davies took the alliance into three figures and a two off the next ball brought the ‘keeper a run a ball 50.
Davies then selflessly departed as he continued to look for quick runs, McKay claiming the wicket courtesy of Mark Cosgrove’s catch at mid-on.
The advantage stretched beyond 300 as Jordan Clark clouted a two to deep cover. Prince struck another couple of fours and Clark (12 not out) also hit a bouncer to the ropes before the visitors called time on their innings.
Hill and Robson each hit a four in the opening exchanges but Leicestershire then lost seven wickets for the addition of just nine runs.
Bailey enticed Hill (10) to edge and Paul Horton snapped up a smart low catch at first slip. Davies initially moved for the ball but Horton was a picture of concentration as he got his hands underneath the ball. The tall seamer then bowled Eckersley (0) for the second time in the game to leave County on 20-2.
Jarvis landed a key blow at the other end as Cosgrove top-edged a bouncer and Davies ran around to get under the catch. Another bumper accounted for Neil Pinner (0), who was held at long-leg by Simon Kerrigan.
Robson (4) had seen the drama unfold from the other end but he became Bailey’s third victim after edging to Croft at second slip. Raine (0) fell later in that 13th over, Bailey bringing the ball back in to take out the off stump.
Bailey made it five in his next over as Niall O’Brien (3) edged and Croft dived across towards Horton to pocket the chance. Bailey and Jarvis ended their opening bursts with terrific respective figures and Nathan Buck and Clark picked up the baton.
There was a wicket in the tea over as Tom Wells (2) dragged Clark (6-2-19-1) on to his stumps and Leicestershire went in on 41-8. McKay cracked three fours through the off-side after the interval but he was the ninth wicket to go, Davies getting under a catch after a top edge off Buck.
The final wicket came when Charlie Shreck edged Buck (6.3-0-22-2) to Prince in the gully, leaving Taylor on 17 not out. Leicestershire’s next game is in the NatWest T20 Blast at home to Derbyshire Falcons on Friday night.
Bowling figures: McKay 15-3-54-2, Shreck 13-1-56-1, Raine 10-0-37-1, Taylor 3-0-26-0, Wells 4-0-20-0.
