We're not far away - Cosgrove

Batsman Mark Cosgrove feels that the team is not far away from Royal London One-Day Cup success as they head to Worcestershire Rapids for the fifth group match tomorrow (11am start).

Leicestershire Foxes started the campaign in fine style with a 72-run win at Northants Steelbacks before suffering defeats to Notts Outlaws, Derbyshire Falcons and Yorkshire Vikings.

The North Division remains tight, with only four points separating top and bottom, so the Foxes would put themselves right back in contention if they land victories at New Road and against Lancashire Lightning at Oakham School on Thursday.

Cosgrove knows that registering back-to-back wins is well within the Foxes’ capabilities but acknowledges that there is little margin for error now.

“You never quite know what’s needed to qualify for the knockout stages but it's fair to say that we may have to win all four games we have left,” said Cosgrove. “But we're playing some good cricket, and we just have to polish up another 10% of our game.

“If we'd played our A game against Yorkshire we'd have got another 20 or 30 runs, but we had to rebuild at a key point. Even so, 300 is still a big run chase, even on a pretty flat pitch.

“We felt we were in the game at the halfway stage but needed early wickets and didn't get them. They batted really well - they have a really strong top order.

“I've been feeling really good in the middle but finding ways to get out, so it was good to get some runs and hopefully that'll continue at Worcester tomorrow.”

Head Coach Paul Nixon echoed those sentiments and feels that is essential that the Foxes learn quickly from their experiences in the last three games.

“There were plenty of positives, as we wanted to play more positively than we did against Derbyshire, and we managed to do that,” said Nixon. “Having Cameron [Delport] back adds to our power factor so it’s great to have him back with the squad.”

“We could have put a score of 320+ on the board against Yorkshire but it was a fine recovery from the position we were in when three wickets down inside the powerplay. Yorkshire bowled very well with good discipline and gave us very few balls to drive at.

“There are still things we could improve on with the bat, and we know we started poorly with the ball. We didn’t execute the plan and they got above the run rate straightaway. After that, we were playing catch-up on a good pitch and their international quality players batted very well.

“We have to take those learnings. It goes without saying that it’s an important game for us now at Worcestershire. We know we’re capable of beating anybody when we produce our best, so we have do just that at New Road.”

The Foxes will be in for a tough challenge at the group leaders, who has won three of their opening four games, including a superb victory off the last ball against Lancashire Lightning yesterday.

Seam duo Gavin Griffiths and Dieter Klein return to the squad for the trip to New Road but Richard Jones will miss a reunion with his former county due to a dislocated finger suffered in the field against Yorkshire.

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

* Our next Royal London One-Day Cup home fixture is the return of county cricket to Oakham School with the fixture against Lancashire Lightning on Thursday, May 31. Ticket prices are: £12 adults, £3 under 16s and £27 for a family ticket (2 adults & 3 under 16s). All of these are for advance purchases, with the prices held until 4pm on Wednesday, May 30. Tickets can be purchased HERE