We'll put defeat behind us - Wells

Leicestershire Foxes all-rounder Tom Wells said that the team won't throw the baby out with the bathwater ahead of tomorrow's Royal London One-Day Cup match at Derbyshire Falcons.

Wells scored 69 against Notts Outlaws on his comeback into the First XI but the side ultimately came up short in pursuit of 410, which would have been a record for the Foxes in List A cricket.

Rather than be too despondent about the opening defeat in the competition, Wells feels that it was a day to praise the opposition and move on quickly. 

With games at the 3aaa County Ground tomorrow, and at home to Yorkshire Vikings on Sunday in the club's Family Funday, the Foxes have the perfect opportunity to do just that.

“We have been playing well in this competition recently - nearly qualifying for the play-offs last season and winning our first game at Northants - but it just wasn't our day yesterday,” said Wells.

“Riki Wessels got them off to a good start, Tom Moores batted nicely, and Samit Patel made a great century in the middle order. We always back our bowlers but it was one of those days that you had to take your hat off to the opposition.

“We played well in the first game at Northants but we didn't execute our skills today. Fortunately it's the sort of competition when there's another game pretty quickly, so we go to Derby and look to be a lot better.”

Although individual accolades are never as enjoyable in defeat, Wells, Callum Parkinson and Gavin Griffiths all made career-bests with the willow against the Outlaws. 

With Ben Raine also batting well in the last two games, the Foxes know that they have plenty of depth, something that will be valuable throughout the competition.

Wells said: “Personally it was nice to make a contribution but it isn't worth too much in a losing cause, though we managed to reduce some damage to the run rate.

“Any time a side gets 400 it's obviously going to be pretty difficult, and they batted very nicely. Then we lost a couple of wickets early so it was hard to give it a good nudge. 

“We tried to get ourselves into a position where we could have a bit of a go at the back end, but we lost too many wickets.

“It was a good outfield and a good pitch to bat on, as always here. We knew the way we've been batting we could chase most totals, but 400 was always likely to be a step too far. We'll put it behind us and go again tomorrow.”

The Foxes has named an unchanged 13-man squad for the trip to Derbyshire Falcons, with Lewis Hill and Ateeq Javid again joining the XI that faced the Outlaws.

Foxes (from 13): Aaron, Ackermann, Carberry, Cosgrove, Dexter, Eckersley, Griffiths, Hill, Horton, Javid, Parkinson, Raine, Wells.