Smith set for 'second debut'
Sat 4 Jul 2015
Greg Smith is set for his ‘second debut’ as Leicestershire entertain Kent in their tenth LV=County Championship fixture of the season tomorrow morning (11am start).
The batsman has rejoined the club on loan from Nottinghamshire and goes straight into a 15-man squad for the game.
The two sides played out an entertaining game at Canterbury earlier this season and are looking to push up the table in the second half of the campaign.
Leicestershire have played good cricket in the competition but captain Mark Cosgrove, who made a century in the equivalent fixture at the St Lawrence Ground, said the team needs to be more ruthless in order to put more wins on the board.
“We’ve had some good days and bad days in the Championship this season,” said Cosgrove. “We’re playing good cricket, including the last game at Glamorgan, but we’re letting the odd hour or session ruin our games.
“We played some really good cricket at Kent and had them on the ropes but we couldn’t quite get the last couple of wickets. Hopefully we can play as well this time, finish the job, and kick-start a good run in four-day cricket.”
Leicestershire’s bowlers have been in good form including taking 20 wickets in a game on four occasions. Cosgrove reserved special praise for Ben Raine, who already has 40 first-class wickets to his name.
He said: “Rainey (Ben Raine) has been fantastic for us. When he came back from New Zealand and we saw him in the nets at the start of the season, we knew he could do a really good job for us. He’s done more than we could have expected, so it’s been a fantastic effort from him.”
Raine tops the bowling averages with his 38 LV=CC victims coming at a cost of just 26.18 apiece and Charlie Shreck has taken the same amount of wickets in the competition.
Clint McKay is also averaging under 30, with 31 wickets in seven matches at 29.32, and the Australian seamer has also scored 304 runs at 27.63 to underline his value to the team.
Angus Robson (650) and Ned Eckersley (598) are Leicestershire’s leading run-scorers in the competition.
Young duo Rob Sayer and Aadil Ali are included in the Leicestershire squad. Off-spinner Sayer had a terrific debut in the NatWest T20 Blast game at Durham on Friday, snaring 2-16 from his four overs. Niall O’Brien misses the game because of international duty.
Leicestershire (from): Cosgrove (capt), Agathangelou, Ali, Boyce, Eckersley, Freckingham, Hill, McKay, Naik, Raine, Robson, Sayer, Shreck, Smith, Wells.
* Jonathan Agnew will speak at an event exclusive to Leicestershire Members in the Charles Palmer Suite before play gets underway on Sunday. Jonathan will take questions at 9.15am, with complimentary tea, coffee and Danish pastries being served from 8.30am.
