Squad get useful practice

Leicestershire CCC held an intra-squad game at the Fischer County Ground today in preparation for the Specsavers County Championship match against Derbyshire.

A 50-over fixture was played with an emphasis on red ball cricket, so the players took to the field in white clothing with the squad split under the leadership of Mark Cosgrove and Neil Dexter.

Team Cosgrove batted first and posted 174-8, Ned Eckersley top-scoring with 58 and Harry Dearden making a well-crafted 48 at the top of the order.

The left-hander was particularly severe on anything over-pitched or offering width, hitting seven boundaries in an organised 107-ball innings.

Gavin Griffiths was the pick of the attack with an impressive 4-21 from eight overs, Zak Chappell claimed 2-34 from ten overs, and the other wickets were taken by Charlie Shreck and George Dockrell.

In reply, Team Dexter just got past the target in the allotted time, and carried on batting. They ended on 176 all out off 49.4 overs. That was achieved after a last wicket stand of 40 between Dockrell (14 not out) and Shreck, who smashed 27 off 20 balls, including five fours and a six.

The skipper made the highest total of the innings, 42, while wickets were shared. James Sykes led the way with 3-42 from 13.4 overs, Dave Sayer and Richard Jones took two apiece, while Tom Wells, Dieter Klein and Ollie Freckingham each claimed one victim.

Freckingham had excellent figures of 9-5-19-1 including the prized scalp of number three Dexter. Angus Robson and Shreck were the next highest scorers with 27 apiece.

The next game is at Derbyshire in the Specsavers County Championship on Monday. The squad for that game will be announced over the weekend.

Team Cosgrove: Horton, Dearden, Ali, Wells, Cosgrove (capt), Eckersley (w/k), Jones, Sykes, Klein, Freckingham, D. Sayer.

Team Dexter: Robson, Hill, Dexter (capt), Evans, R. Sayer, Raine, Chappell, Swindells (w/k), Griffiths, Dockrell, Shreck.