Second wicket record leads Foxes to victory
Mon 31 Aug 2020
BLAST 3 | The Foxes win by 30 runs. Leicestershire Foxes 177 for six beat Durham 147 for eight by 30 runs.
SCORECARD | Available from Cricinfo HERE
POINTS | Leicestershire Foxes 2, Durham Cricket 0
REPORT | Half-centurions Gareth Delany and Arron Lilley made a record-breaking second partnership for Leicestershire Foxes against Durham to lead them to a comfortable Vitality Blast victory.
The Foxes produced a strong all-round showing to take their points tally to four from three matches.
Having posted a good score of 177 for six, Callum Parkinson (4-0-21-3) had eye-catching figures gained through equal amounts of control and threat, while seam trio Tom Taylor, Gavin Griffiths and Will Davis generally tied the batsmen down with subtle variations and unerring accuracy.
The bowling unit’s execution of skill followed a similar display with the willow - and an energetic, committed display in the field ensured all of the boxes were ticked for Head Coach Paul Nixon.
With a blue sky above Emerald Headingley for the televised tie, Colin Ackermann won the toss and elected to bat first with Harry Dearden and Delany opening.
Dearden was first to hit a maximum in the second over with a beautiful off-side drive. Delany then followed with his first boundary of the innings just two deliveries later.
There was early seam movement and Durham applied pressure. Dearden [9, 11b] was eager to continue his strong start, but a top edge of an off-side drive sailed high to David Bedingham at extra to take the relatively easy catch in the field off the bowling of Paul Coughlin.
Lilley joined Delany in the middle, who struck another two boundaries, taking his total to 20 from 16 deliveries.
On his second delivery faced, Lilley hit his first boundary of the innings shortly followed by two boundaries for Delany in the sixth over with the pair scoring 13 runs from consecutive overs taking the Foxes to 49 for one.
There was a chance to break the stand as Liam Trevaskis, the pick of the Durham attack, got one beyond Delany but the ball evaded the grasp of ‘keeper Stuart Poynter.
The partnership continued to develop with 13 runs hit in the 8th over with a huge maximum from both batsmen to take the Foxes to 62/1.
Delany was confident to create space and hit the ball sweetly and cleanly throughout his knock. The Ireland star completed his maiden half-century for the Foxes with another boundary [35b, 6x4, 2x6].
Carse could have dismissed both set batsmen but saw catches put down in the 10th over to miss vital opportunities for the visitors. The pair shortly brought up the 100 in the 12th over.
Delany was eventually dismissed in the 13th over as he top-edged and Scott Steel took an easy catch off the bowling of Trevaskis. It was a superb innings by Delany, scoring 68 from 45 [7x4, 3x6].
The second wicket partnership of 88 from Delany and Lilley was the highest v Durham since 2013 with Greg Smith and Joe Burns putting on 81 in Leicester on that occasion.
Ackermann joined Lilley in the middle, however his time in the middle was short lived with Bedingham taking a diving catch to dismiss the Foxes captain.
Lewis Hill scored his first four with a deft reverse shot off seamer Matty Potts. Lilley continued his form reaching 35 from 22, putting the Foxes on 124 for three with 5 overs remaining.
Lilley brought up his second career half-century with back-to-back boundaries. The first was a cleverly executed flick to nutmeg himself and the second was a delightful on-side drive [33b, 5x4, 2x6].
Looking for his first maximum, Hill pulled the ball to Alex Lees at deep backward square off Nathan Rimmington for 9.
In response to the Foxes fourth wicket, Lilley immediately hit a huge 6 which landed in the 12th row of the Western Terrace of Emerald Headingley to put Leicestershire 145/4.
Taylor brought up the 150 for the Foxes with an offside drive for his first boundary off his second delivery. With the final two overs remaining, the Foxes pushed to 158/4 [Lilley 61, Taylor 8].
All-rounder Taylor executed an impressive stroke for his second boundary, moving around the crease and deftly flicking the ball through third man. He was then caught by Sean Dickson off the bowling of Potts for 12 off just 6 balls.
Although Lilley departed for 69 off 45, Ben Mike struck a useful four to ensure the chase was close to nine runs per over.
Parkinson delivered the first ball to Durham with Lees and Steel opening for Durham.
The Foxes suppressed Durham with only 11 runs scored in the first two overs. The breakthrough wicket came shortly after, with Steel [12 off 7] caught by Davis at mid-on off the bowling of Ackermann.
Lees responded with back-to-back boundaries and a maximum to finish the third over.
With Griffiths introduced to the Leicestershire attack, he restricted the fourth over to just five runs, however Lees was on strike in the fifth over hitting back-to-back boundaries.
Griffiths continued to restrict Durham with only four runs scored in the 6th over and then took a decisive wicket by bowling Graham Clark for 7 with a clever slower delivery.
Durham were not behind the Foxes score at the equivalent time of the innings, but the bowlers soon started to turn the screw.
The outstanding Taylor and Parkinson continued to restrict Durham to 4 and 6 runs in total from the 7th and 8th overs respectively.
The Foxes were hunting for wickets and Lees (36) was caught right on the boundary by George Rhodes off the bowling of Davis for the third wicket.
At the halfway point of the innings, Durham were now behind the rate at 75 for three, chasing 178.
Parkinson continued to restrict Durham with 5 runs in the 11th over. The over finished with a well taken catch by Davis at long-off to dismiss Dickson for 5.
The slow left armer then had the dangerous Bedingham caught by Mike at short third man before taking a superb return catch to dismiss Brydon Carse.
Figures of 4-0-21-3 included bowling the first over, further cementing Parkinson’s place in the record books. He is now the fourth leading wicket-taker in the club’s T20 history.
With the last five overs remaining, Durham were on 111/6, requiring 67 from 30 balls. Durham responded in the 16th over taking 13 runs.
Delany continued his impressive performance for the Foxes taking his maiden wicket in the 16th over.
Had Coughlin’s drive gone as far as it would high, it would have been heading towards the rugby pitch, however it came down with snow on it and Taylor made the catch look easy running from long-on.
Poynter was then caught by Ackermann off Davis as the Foxes wrapped things up.
The Foxes now face Yorkshire Vikings at the same venue on Wednesday.
TEAM | Ackermann (C), Davis, Dearden, Delany, Griffiths, Hill (wk), Lilley, Mike, Parkinson, Rhodes, Taylor.
DURHAM | Lees, Steel, Clark, Bedingham, Dickson, Poynter (wk), Carse, Coughlin, Trevaskis, Potts, Rimmington (c).
IMAGES | Thanks to John Mallet of Outside Off for supplying images throughout the game.
