Match Preview v Yorkshire CCC
Sat 5 Sep 2020
Leicestershire CCC end their 2020 Bob Willis Trophy campaign with a trip to Emerald Headingley for the third time in six days as they take on a Yorkshire side vying for a spot in the Bob Willis Trophy final.
The Running Foxes head into the fixture off the back of a positive start to the Vitality Blast competition, with their latest outing resulting in their first defeat of the competition at the hands of Notts Outlaws.
Further, the Running Foxes’ previous Bob Willis Trophy fixture ended in a draw with the Trent Bridge side as impressive second innings from Sam Evans (48), Colin Ackermann (65) and Harry Swindells (52no) saw the Foxes see out the four days of play after the visitors to the Fischer County Ground enforced the follow-on.
Yorkshire will be looking for victory in the last outing of the 2020 Bob Willis Trophy campaign with a view to playing in the Lord’s final.
The White Rose played out a rain affected draw against Lancashire CCC in their previous Bob Willis Trophy fixture with Adam Lyth in top form, posting a 235-ball 103 in their first innings.
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Watch the Foxes live through our online streaming service
As confirmed by Leicestershire County Cricket Club, the Bob Willis Trophy fixtures played at The Fischer County Ground will be available to watch via a live stream.
The stream can be accessed via the Leicestershire CCC website and will be live each morning of the 4-day matches.
Yorkshire - ones to watch
Adam Lyth – An opening batsman in top form heading into the tie, posting a century and two half-centuries in his past four appearances in all competitions. Equally capable of posting a tone-setting score in quick time and anchoring an innings when the bowling attack grab the initiative. A big wicket in any fixture, and has 11,000 first-class runs in his sights.
Jonathan Tattersall – A batting wicketkeeper that can strike at a high-rate in the middle order. He adds depth to the batting line-up and has recently posted a 160-ball 66 against Derbyshire in the Bob Willis Trophy.
Last Time We Met
The last time that Leicestershire Foxes and Yorkshire Vikings met was in the 2019 Vitality Blast at the Fischer County Ground.
This was the only meeting of the sides in the Blast last year as Vikings travelled to the Fischer County Ground for a meeting under the floodlights.
Foxes captain Colin Ackermann won the toss and opted to field first, looking to put Vikings under pressure from the first ball.
The boundary at the Fischer County Ground was purposely brought in for this fixture making it a small field with the short boundary on the Milligan Road side of the field.
Dieter Klein opened the bowling for the Foxes to Adam Lyth who began on the front-foot, hitting the South African for 10 from the first over.
This set the tone for the Vikings innings as the first wicket partnership was finally brought to an end on 116 after 10.1 overs, with Klein catching Lyth (69, 35b) off the bowling of Parkinson.
Tom Kohler-Cadmore played a pivotal part in the partnership, recognising that Lyth was the man who was seeing it big and helped his partner to his score of 69. Kohler-Cadmore was on 37(26b) as Lyth made way for overseas wicket-keeper batsman Nicholas Pooran.
Two overs later and Kohler-Cadmore brought up his half-century as Pooran began to get in on the boundaries himself earning his first six from Chris Wright in the fourteenth.
The partnership went from strength to strength with both men looking in sublime touch, which culminated in Pooran posting 23 in the sixteenth, and Vikings taking 27.
Pooran brought his fifty up in the next over, still accompanied by Kohler-Cadmore who was now on 77(45b).
The 121-run partnership was finally brough to an end as Dearden was underneath Pooran’s effort as he looked to send Klein for six. Pooran departed with a 28 ball 67, leaving Kohler-Cadmore at the crease on 85, as Harry Brook met him in the middle.
Kohler-Cadmore eventually ran out of time to turn his half-century into a century as the 20 overs concluded with him on 96no (54b) accompanied by Brook 6(4b), setting the Foxes an impressive target of 253 for the win.
The Foxes began well posting 55 for one in the powerplay with the wicket of Neil Dexter (25, 19b) falling on 5.5 – with Mark Cosgrove sitting well on a 16 ball 25.
The Foxes’ next wicket fell as they reached the halfway point of the innings, as Cosgrove (31, 29b) fell victim to the bowling of Dominic Bess, caught by Gary Ballance. The Foxes were 82 for two after 10.
Ackermann who was on 22 from 12 was joined by Arron Lilley as the Foxes were in need of a telling partnership to give them any chance in the fixture.
The partnership only reached 28, though, before Ackermann (29, 18b) was bowled by Thompson. Lewis Hill came to the crease with the Foxes on 110 for three after 12.1.
Hill and Lilley struck a good partnership in the middle, which was highlighted after Hill hit Bess for four followed by back-to-back sixes in an over that yielded 23 runs, including a six from Lilley as well.
At the end of the sixteenth over, the Foxes sat on 158 for three with Hill and Lilley displaying the form needed to make the tie interesting at the very least.
As the game entered the final two overs, the fourth wicket stand came to an end on 67 with the Foxes on 177 for four after Lilley (47, 24b) was caught by Harry Brook off the bowling of Mathew Pillans.
Harry Dearden joined Hill (35, 21b) at the crease with Leicestershire looking to finish with a late rally.
Hill hit Pillans for back-to-back sixes immediately after Lilley’s departure, with the over coming to an end with four leg-byes.
Dearden (5no, 4b) and Hill (49no, 28b) then saw out the remaining six balls, claiming six runs from them as Leicestershire’s reply finished on 201 for four as the Foxes gave a good account of themselves against a star-studded Vikings side.
Last Time We Met in County Championship
The last time the two teams met in the County Championship was all the way back in 2012 in a season that saw Yorkshire relegated into Division Two.
However, the White Rose County immediately sought redemption as a second placed finish in the County Championship Division 2 in 2012 saw them promoted back into Division One at the first time of asking.
The match, ultimately, ended in a draw at Grace Road after Leicestershire won the toss and opted to bat first.
The Running Foxes posted a credible first innings score of 320 with Matthew Boyce scoring a superlative 107 from 229 balls, with the second highest first innings score for the Foxes being the 35 posted by Shivsinh Thakor.
Yorkshire replied with a commanding total of 486 in their first innings, which saw Adam Lyth post an unerring 395 ball 248, only three runs shy of his current first-class best.
Lyth opened the batting for Yorkshire alongside a young Joe Root who posted an 11-ball duck in Leicestershire.
Jonny Bairstow also made headlines after ramping up the Yorkshire total with a quickfire 144-ball 118.
Claude Henderson impressed with the ball for Leicestershire, once again, after bowling a total of 47.1 overs, conceding 126 runs with an incredible economy rate of 2.67. He claimed four wickets in the process.
The Running Foxes then batted for the remainder of the four days, losing seven wickets in the process.
The partnership of Paul Dixey and Claude Henderson saw the Foxes through to the end of the fourth day as Leicestershire ended their second innings on 157 for seven.
Leicestershire Squad
Paul Nixon has named a 13-man squad for the trip to Yorkshire.
The return of red ball cricket sees the return of Hassan Azad, Sam Evans, Harry Swindells and Alex Evans to the squad.
Leicestershire-loanee Rishi Patel comes back into the squad and could be in line to make his Foxes debut before returning to parent club Essex.
Leicestershire from 13: Colin Ackermann (c), Hassan Azad, Harry Dearden, Alex Evans, Sam Evans, Gavin Griffiths, Dieter Klein, Arron Lilley, Ben Mike, Rishi Patel, George Rhodes, Harry Swindells (wk), Tom Taylor.
