Worcestershire CCC Match Preview - 21/9/21

The Running Foxes bring a close to their 2021 LV= County Championship campaign with a trip to Worcestershire’s New Road.

With both teams out of reach of top spot heading into the final Division Three game of the campaign, both teams head into the clash looking to finish the season as strongly as possible.

Leicestershire head into the fixture on the back of their first victory of the divisional phase after beating Sussex CCC in three days, with day three fully washed out at Grace Road.

Hassan Azad and Lewis Hill head to Worcester on the back of centuries, and Chris Wright on the back of his fourth five-wicket haul of the season.

The hosts enter the tie on the back of a 101-run defeat to table-topping Middlesex CCC.

The Season So Far

In the first part of the 2021 LV= County Championship, our hosts, Worcestershire CCC came 5th in Group One with 109 points (one win, six draws, three defeats), which was two points fewer than the Running Foxes’ 111 points. Subsequently, both teams made it into Division Three and at the time of writing, Leicestershire in third place have a seven point edge over Worcestershire in fourth.

Last week, Worcestershire succumbed to a 101-run loss at the hands of Middlesex at Lord’s, despite rolling their hosts for 144 in the first innings, with Ed Barnard (4-43) and Joe Leach (3-30) impressing in particular. Worcestershire edged a 27-run lead in first innings, with an unbeaten 61 from number ten Josh Baker a key part of that after they recovered from 44-6 to end 171 all out. 

In the second innings, Middlesex posted 247 all out with Charlie Morris (6-52) doing the damage for Worcestershire, setting our opposition this week 221 to win. However, Worcestershire fell over 100 short, being dismissed for 119 in their second innings, with only three players making it into double figures on what looked like from the figures to be a pacer-friendly pitch.

That was rather the opposite to what we played on at the Uptonsteel County Ground for our match against Sussex, which goes down as one of the most remarkable Leicestershire wins in recent history. Batting first on what looked like a good wicket, Sussex posted 359 all out but that was only part of the story as they collapsed from 291-2, with Chris Wright (6-94) yet again coming up trumps for the Running Foxes' bowling attack.

Despite the loss of Sam Evans early on in our reply, our batters dominated, scoring at almost five runs per over in our total of 492-4 declared, but our hopes looked like being scuppered by a rain delay which wiped out the entire third day and the first hour of day four. Hassan Azad (152) and Lewis Hill (145) set up our innings, which was finished off superbly by quick-fire unbeaten half-centuries by Louis Kimber and Harry Swindells as we looked for quick runs to set Sussex a target.

Needing 133 to make us bat again, Sussex looked in great shape at 57-0 after just nine overs, but yet another collapse - this time sparked by Ben Mike (4-34) and Callum Parkinson (4-18) which saw the Running Foxes celebrate an incredible innings victory with just 16 balls of day four to spare.

Last Time We Met

We have to go back to April 2019 to find the last time the two teams met in County Championship action, in a clash which was played at the Uptonsteel County Ground and was won by our visitors by an innings and 18 runs. 

Daryl Mitchell, Hamish Rutherford and Ben Cox all recorded centuries in Worcestershire’s mammoth 553-6 declared, which put Leicestershire under huge scoreboard pressure. Despite 60's from Ateeq Javid and Mark Cosgrove, we subsided to 302 all out, with Worcestershire enforcing the follow-on.

Our second innings started in the worst possible way, falling to 31-3, and while Hassan Azad (54) and Colin Ackermann (69) provided some resistance, our 233 all out was never going to be enough to make sure Worcestershire bat again. Charlie Morris (7-45) wreaked havoc on our batting, and our batters will need to make sure they play Morris better in the coming week.

The Running Foxes

Lewis Hill needs 98 runs in this match to record 1,000 runs in a County Championship season for the first time, and he recorded his third century of an extremely productive 2021 in our win over Sussex, which also was his career-best score. Hill averages 47.47 at the time of writing, so not only does he have the 1,000 run target in his hands, but also a season average in excess of 50 as well.

Chris Wright (46) is one wicket behind Callum Parkinson (47) as the duo race to try and get 50 wickets for the season with one match remaining. Both players are averaging below 30 with the ball, with the veteran Wright (21.91) showing yet again his value to our pace bowling group. After being unable to bowl in the second innings against Sussex, Foxes fans will be hoping Wright is fit to feature against Worcestershire this week.

Opposition Players to Watch

Jake Libby has scored the most runs for Worcestershire, with 995, in a very productive season for our hosts. He’s hit four centuries, as well as three fifties, and averages in excess of 55 - the ex-Nottinghamshire man will clearly be a key wicket for our bowlers over the coming four days.

Also impressing with the bat is Ed Barnard, who is two runs shy of 700 for the season - an excellent number for an all-rounder. Barnard has also hit two tons and averages just below 50 with the bat, which would be good in itself as a batter, but he’s also taken 21 wickets with the ball too, illustrating his all-round talent.

Charlie Morris took a career-best 7-45 against us the last time we played Worcestershire in a four-day match, and he’s averaging a shade over 30 this season with a season best of 6-52. Morris averages 29.42 in his first-class career, which shows the threat he poses with the ball.

Leicestershire CCC Squad

Head Coach Paul Nixon names his final squad of the 2021 campaign, with a 14-man travelling party making the trip.

Skipper Colin Ackermann misses out for the third straight game, with Rishi Patel making his return.

Leicestershire CCC from 14: Hassan Azad, Ed Barnes, Will Davis, Sam Evans, Gavin Griffiths, Lewis Hill, Louis Kimber, Ben Mike, Rishi Patel, Callum Parkinson (C), George Rhodes, Abi Sakande, Harry Swindells (wk), Chris Wright