Outstanding Foxes rally against Glamorgan
Sat 12 May 2018
SCORE | Day 2 of 4, Specsavers County Championship: Leicestershire CCC 191 and 119 for 2 v Glamorgan CCC 178
SCORECARD | Available through ESPN Cricinfo
REACTION | Varun Aaron spoke to BBC Radio Leicester's Richard Rae at stumps
HIGHLIGHTS | In-play highlights are available throughout the 2018 season
REPORT | Leicestershire CCC produced a magnificent rally on the second day of the Specsavers County Championship game against Glamorgan CCC at the Fischer County Ground.
A brilliant bowling effort saw all ten of the visitors’ first innings wickets fall for the addition of 96 runs with Varun Aaron (four for 65) starring and fellow seamers Ben Raine, Gavin Griffiths and Neil Dexter claiming two wickets apiece.
Their efforts helped to land a first innings lead of 13 and Leicestershire CCC impressively extended it to 132 for the loss of two second innings wickets, Paul Horton leading with the way with a third half-century of the season.
Head Coach Paul Nixon asked for a response from his side and will have been absolutely delighted with the efforts throughout the day.
Glamorgan lost seven wickets for 66 runs in a frenetic opening session. Raine, who had bowled beautifully yesterday for no reward, gave the Foxes a flying start. The all-rounder found the edge of Jack Murphy’s bat without addition to the overnight score and Horton took the catch at first slip to remove the opener for 32.
One bought two as Aaron removed Australia international Shaun Marsh (7) with a beauty, finding the batsman’s edge on the way through to Lewis Hill. Aaron was at it again shortly afterwards, Nick Selman (40) bowled after shouldering arms to a big in-swinger.
Kiran Carlson and Aneurin Donald came together and added 27 for the fourth wicket. Both were tested immensely with Raine, Aaron and Griffiths regularly beating the outside edge.
Griffiths got his first wicket of the day as Donald (14) went to pull a delivery but could only play onto his off stump, which flew out of the ground. Dexter was next to strike as Carlson (14) drove a full away-swinger to a diving Mark Cosgrove in the gully.
Griffiths claimed his second wicket of the session when beating the defences of Chris Cooke (6) before David Lloyd (15) pulled a short ball from Dexter straight to Raine at long-leg.
Aaron then picked up two wickets after lunch as Marchant de Lange (1) was bowled before Andrew Salter (9) fell lbw. Timm van der Gugten hit a quickfire unbeaten 19 to edge the Welsh County closer to Leicestershire CCC’s first innings total before Michael Hogan (4) holed out to long-on from the bowling of Raine.
The momentum gathered with the ball seemed to have a positive effect on openers Carberry and Horton, with the right-hander playing with particular positivity through the off-side.
Carberry flicked de Lange off his legs for four to bring up the fifty partnership in the 15th over. With the score on 62 de Lange pushed a ball across Carberry and drew the outside edge with wicket-keeper Cooke taking a smart catch diving to his left.
Horton continued his innings alongside Colin Ackermann and reached h50 from 62 balls, hitting four boundaries. Unfortunately Horton was dismissed two balls later, lbw to Lloyd.
Cosgrove (25*) joined Ackermann (18*) and the pair added 33 before tea. A further ten runs were added in a tricky period after the interval before rain arrived to bring about an early abandonment to the third day. Half an hour’s worth of play can be made up tomorrow morning.
TEAM | Carberry (capt), Horton, Ackermann, Cosgrove, Javid, Dexter, Hill (wk), Raine, Parkinson, Griffiths, Aaron.
FIGURES | Raine 17.2-5-38-2, Aaron 16-3-65-4, Griffiths 10-5-27-2, Dexter 13-3-35-2, Parkinson 2-1-4-0.
PHOTO | Thanks to Ed Melia for the photo of Varun Aaron bowling today.
* Admission to the third day's play against Glamorgan CCC costs £12 for adults and £2 for under 16s. You can also follow the Foxes at the Fischer County Ground throughout the 2018 season by becoming a Member of the club. For further details on the advantages of joining us, please follow the link HERE
