Thomas Praises Foxes After Rain Denies Final Day Win

Leicestershire head coach Alfonso Thomas gave his team a pat on the back after rain denied them the chance to push for victory on the final day of the Vitality County Championship match against Derbyshire.

The Foxes were favourites with Derbyshire still 183 runs short of avoiding an innings defeat on 224 for 6 but heavy rain throughout the morning left large pools of surface water on the County Ground outfield.

After lunch was taken early at 12.30, the umpires inspected and the inevitable decision to call the game off was announced shortly after leaving Leicestershire with 16 points and Derbyshire nine from the draw.

But despite the frustration, Thomas was “extremely proud” of the way a team missing several front-line bowlers performed.

He said: “I have to doff my cap to the lads. We’ve asked a lot of them in the last four days and they’ve delivered and more.

“We’ve tried to counter the weather as much as we could, there’s going to be a feeling that we should have pulled out earlier but I thought we got it right. 

“The guys gave it a good go after tea yesterday, they batted well to be fair to them, they’re allowed to bat well, but I’m extremely proud of the effort that our lads have put in over the last four days.

“The way the lads came out on the evening of day two, to get them four down was a fantastic effort.

"We’ve bowled well as a pack which is exactly what we want, we don’t want to depend on one bowler, and it’s going to be a tough decision come next week against Northants.”