Pettini leads Foxes to fine win
Fri 8 Jul 2016
NatWest T20 Blast Matchday 9: Leicestershire Foxes v Derbyshire Falcons
REPORT | By Sam Chambers
An inspired opening partnership from Leicestershire Foxes' captain Mark Pettini and Mark Cosgrove helped their side to a comprehensive nine-wicket win over Derbyshire Falcons in the NatWest T20 Blast at the Fischer County Ground this evening.
Pettini (71*, 48b) and Cosgrove (52, 27b) were in rampant form as they shared in a stand of 106 for the first wicket, helping the Foxes get off to the best possible start in their chase of 159.
Earlier in the night, Ben Raine and Clint McKay claimed three wickets apiece for the Foxes while Neil Dexter (4-0-22-0) bowled an economical spell to help restrict Derbyshire to 158 all out in 19.5 overs.
The Foxes showed three changes from their defeat by Northants Steelbacks last time out, with Farhaan Behardien making his bow as the replacement for overseas signing Umar Akmal following the Pakistan batsman's departure for the Caribbean Premier League. Raine and Rob Sayer also came into the team.
The Falcons, who saw their last scheduled Blast fixture against Northants Steelbacks washed out, brought Tom Milnes into their side after the impressive win over Worcestershire Rapids. That game saw them chase down 185 at New Road in a seven wicket success the last time they saw proper action.
Foxes skipper Pettini won the toss and put the Falcons into bat, with the first over providing a dramatic opening to the match.
Hamish Rutherford, the Falcons top-scorer in this year's Blast with 174 runs, hit Raine's first legitimate ball of the first over straight down the ground for four after a no-ball from the Foxes all-rounder's initial attempt.
Raine, bowling from the Bennett End, would soon make an impact, though, when he had Durston (4) caught behind by wicket-keeper Lewis Hill.
Rutherford (13,12b) looked to be in typically free-scoring form, hitting Clint McKay's first ball over mid-off before gaining a rather fortuitous four after a thick inside edge almost saw him play on.
All-rounder Raine dismissed him, however, when the Kiwi miscued and Hill dived to take a brilliant running catch towards the boundary's edge to leave the away side in trouble in the third over.
A further wicket fell in the sixth over when Chesney Hughes (6) was trapped in front of his stumps by Raine - coming in from the Pavilion End at this point - to claim his third wicket of the match.
This left Derbyshire up against it at the end of the powerplay, going along at exactly eight runs an over but with three wickets down, and they would look to Neil Broom, who had started in good nick, and Wayne Madsen, the hero of their win at Worcestershire, to form a partnership and take the game away from the Foxes.
The pair looked to be doing that, when, at the halfway stage, the Falcons had recovered to 75-3 to leave the tie intriguingly poised with a quarter of the game's play gone. The first six of the match came shortly after when Broom pulled debutant Behardien over the square leg boundary.
The impressive Broom's 33-ball 50 would come in the 12th over, as would the 50 partnership, but the alliance would end in the next over when Kevin O'Brien, playing his last game before joining up with Ireland for international duty against Afghanistan, had Madsen caught by Cosgrove for 14 - though Derbyshire would bring the 100 up, too.
Broom eventually departed for 59 (40b, 6x4, 1x6), bowled by Behardien after he tried unsuccessfully to pull the spinner, bringing to the crease the popular former Fox Shiv Thakor. He would also fall to Behardien (4-0-35-2) after pulling him to the awaiting Sayer at deep square leg, leaving the visitors 127-6 with four overs to go.
Derbyshire fell to 134-7 when McKay troubled the stumps of Alex Hughes (3) in the 18th over. In the penultimate over, all-rounder Jimmy Neesham pushed the score on to 154-7 with a trio of boundaries, while in the final over, McKay ran out Matt Critchley (4) as he and Neesham tried to scramble a single.
Critchley was one of three wickets to fall as Neesham (45, 23b) would fall just short of his 50 when holing out to Pettini at mid-off from McKay, and the Victorian (3.5-0-3-23) concluded the Derbyshire innings by bowling Tom Milnes for a duck on the second last ball to set up a fascinating second period.
The Foxes started their chase positively, taking seven off Thakor's first over, Pettini sending one past Alex Hughes at the third man boundary.
Pettini looked be in good form, cutting Neesham away for four more and square driving him beautifully for successive boundaries as the home side took 16 off the second over.
This meant that they arrived at the same amount of runs as the Falcons from the first two overs but, unlike Derbyshire, without the loss of any wickets for their 23.
Cosgrove would find the ropes for the first time in the third, flicking one away to backward square leg off Milnes as both batsman looked to take the game to their opponents, though Pettini survived a shout of leg before when hit full on the pads by Thakor.
Leicestershire's leaders in the longest and shortest forms of the game showed no sign of slowing down, Pettini in particular in fine fettle as he raced towards his 50.
County would finish the powerplay period in the healthy position of 57-0, Cosgrove belting Milnes' last ball for six as he looked to catch his partner up.
Some indiscipline in the field helped the Foxes' cause, not that Pettini and Cosgrove needed it with the form that they were in, Pettini passing 50 in just 32 balls.
Falcons' captain Durston brought himself on in the 10th over, Cosgrove smashing two maximums to add to his two others and continue in the same vein to pass 50 from 26 balls. He perished the first ball after passing his milestone, though, sending one back into the hands of Durston to leave his side 106-1 at the mid-point of the innings.
Pettini was joined at the crease by Cameron Delport - who looked keen to get in on the act - and the Foxes moved to 122-1 from 12 and continue on their way to their target of 159.
County passed 150 with the final ball of the 15th over, and completed a fine day's work when Delport (38*, 20b) blazed a Critchley delivery over deep mid-wicket to go to 164-1 from 15.5 overs.
The Foxes now look to make it back-to-back NatWest T20 Blast wins when they travel to Chester-le-Street to take on Durham Jets on Sunday afternoon, a match that is live on Sky Sports with a 2.30pm start.
Bowling figures for Leicestershire: Raine 4-0-43-3, McKay 3.5-0-20-3, O'Brien 3-0-28-1, Dexter 4-0-22-0, Behardien 4-0-35-2, Sayer 1-0-9-0.
* Thanks to Ed Melia for the photograph of Mark
