McDonald praises Akmal's contribution
Fri 19 Jun 2015
REACTION | By Brian Halford
Leicestershire Foxes Head Coach Andrew McDonald was a happy man as his side recorded a priceless NatWest T20 Blast away win at Birmingham Bears this evening.
The North section has seen plenty of home victories so far and while the Foxes remain unbeaten at Grace Road, they now have two wins on their travels at Trent Bridge and Edgbaston.
McDonald was pleased with the all-round performance and paid tribute to Umar Akmal, who hit his second unbeaten half-century in three innings on his farewell appearance for the club.
"Any win on the road is a good win and our guys played some really good cricket,” said McDonald.
"We thought it was probably a 170-odd pitch so to keep them to 160 was a good effort and then we went about chasing the target in a very positive way. Mark Cosgrove gave us the perfect start and then Niall O'Brien and Umar Akmal played it perfectly.
"It was nice for Umar to finish his time with us with a half-century. We are looking forward to having Grant Elliott back but we have been very lucky to have Umar while Grant has been away. He has done really well for us and I would like to thank him for that."
Birmingham Bears Director of Cricket Dougie Brown gave credit to the Foxes as his side lost for only the second time in the competition this season.
He said: "Leicestershire thoroughly deserved their win. They outskilled us in all departments. They played a really good game for 40 overs and we didn't.
"They bowled well and we didn't react to that and you have to react to things quickly in Twenty20. Then they were 62 for two after the powerplay and they had matched our boundary count after the first 11 overs. It is a long, long way back from there.
"We have played a lot of very good T20 cricket this season but this was a reminder that we can't let our standards slip. The good thing is we have got a chance to dust ourselves down and bounce straight back on Sunday."
