McDonald proud of players

By Dominic Toner

Head Coach Andrew McDonald said that the players’ maintenance of a positive attitude in the match against Derbyshire was the key to a three-wicket victory.

Leicestershire resumed the final day on 56-4, still requiring a further 217 to win, but kept their belief against a quality Derbyshire attack.

Aadil Ali and Niall O’Brien batted throughout the first session to set the foundations and Andrea Agathangelou, Ben Raine and Clint McKay all played valuable innings as County got over the line just after tea.

He said: “I’m really proud of the guys the way they stuck at it and showed great belief. Believing in our own ability is something that we spoke about throughout this whole game.

“Hopefully we can build upon this victory and show the belief we did in the next four-day game at Northamptonshire.”

The match was blown wide open on the third day thanks to a remarkable spell from Clint McKay, who claimed fur wickets for seven runs in 27 balls to limit the Derbyshire second innings.

McKay now has 48 first-class wickets and Raine and Charlie Shreck moved beyond the 50 mark in this game, and all three seamers average below 30, so McDonald has been understandably delighted with their efforts.  

He said: “It was Clint McKay that put a stamp on the game on Sunday. After tea we said to him ‘you’ve got to bust this game open’ and that is exactly what he did. Clint took three for very little and finished that spell with four for seven, and really stood up.

“He had no wickets at that stage but he came in hard after tea like he always does. The bowling group has been outstanding and they keep on coming in for us. Charlie Shreck, Ben Raine and Clint McKay have been outstanding for us."

Ali also received praise from his coach for a resilient second innings of 42 from 198 balls in a stay of more than four hours at the crease.

McDonald said: “He just looked solid all day and looked as though he was in control of his game and for a young man learning the four-day craft, it’s really nice to have that. As Aadil develops and goes on, he will expand like we know he can do in the one-day game.

“We know that he can play and we put great faith in him and stuck him at number four in the one-day game and he’s given us a good return there.

“Aadil is number five in the batting line up in four-day cricket amongst a couple of experienced players in Mark Cosgrove and Niall O’Brien and we feel that is a really good position for him to learn his game in.”

Leicestershire now have a few days without a game but will look to carry their momentum into the final two Royal London One Day Cup matches next week and the County Championship match at Northamptonshire later this month.