County triumph against all the odds

Date: Saturday 27 June 2009

Leicestershire Foxes (2 pts) 164-6 (du Toit 39, Allenby 32, Nixon 32, Rafiq 2-21) beat Yorkshire Carnegie (0 pts) 153-6 (Rudolph 61, Gale 43, White 2-29, Harris 2-30) by 11 runs.

Leicestershire Foxes pulled a remarkable victory out of the bag against Yorkshire Carnegie to keep their Twenty20 qualification hopes very much alive and kicking.

The visitors were 98 without loss after ten overs chasing 165 to win, but a fantastic fightback ensured the Foxes clinched a crucial two points against one of their closest rivals.

Jacques Rudolph (61 from 39 balls) and Andrew Gale (43 from 33) led the charge for Carnegie, sharing 104 for the first wicket.

However, when both fell in successive overs, the Foxes capitalised to the maximum and squeezed the life out of a chase that Yorkshire had looked fully in control of.

It was certainly a win against all the odds in an electric atmosphere at a packed Grace Road. The two points gained keeps the team's fate in their own hands, as a triumph over third-place Durham on Sunday will put the side through as runner-up in the Northern section.

Before the start of the game, County knew victories over Yorkshire and Durham would see them finish second, as all three of the main second-place contenders were on eight points.

It is now a two-team showdown, as the Dynamos gained a point from a washout against group winners Lancashire Lightning which extinguished Carnegie hopes of a top-two finish.

So, despite this thrilling win, there is still plenty of work to do for the team, but it is a position that everyone would gladly have accepted before this game - and even more so after Yorkshire's opening ten overs.

Earlier in the evening, County got off to a flyer themselves after being invited to bat by Rudolph on a gloomy evening after rain had been in the air.

It was a sensible decision given the potential of Duckworth-Lewis coming into the equation, but County are well-versed in setting a target. So, it was no dramas for the home side to strap on the pads first.

Jacques du Toit’s 16-ball 39 gave the innings some early momentum, as the batsman hit the ball hard and to the boundary with regularity after finding himself at the crease in the opening over.

It is fair to say the innings got off to an all-action start, as Deon Kruis' first ball waywardly flew for five wides and Matthew Boyce crunched the next ball through the covers to have the score at 9 for no wicket after one legal delivery.

The left-hander then hit another cover drive straight at Azeem Rafiq at extra, which was the cue for du Toit’s brilliant cameo.

The number three heavily outscored the in-form Jim Allenby at the crease during their 51-run stand, which shows how well he batted.

du Toit hit three fours off Ajmal Shahzad’s opening over, and then took twenty off the fourth over of the innings sent down by Richard Pyrah.

The batsman struck a six and four over mid-on and then hit a maximum and a boundary over long-off in an over which had perfect symmetry. At one point in the innings, du Toit had 35 with Allenby almost a spectator on two, but his time was to come.

The all-rounder pulled a four to bring the 50 up after 4.3 overs, and then played a brilliant pick-up shot for six to get his innings up-and-running.

Rudolph bravely stuck with Pyrah for another over, and the bowler went for another four off his first ball. However, he delivered for his skipper by having du Toit caught at mid-wicket, which ended a fantastic 17 minute stay at the crease.

During that time he scored six fours and two sixes and ended with a strike rate of 243.75 as the team moved onto 65-2 off the powerplay overs.

When du Toit was out, Allenby picked up the mantle and added two more boundaries as skipper Boeta Dippenaar was settling in at the crease.

As so often happens in Twenty20, the spinners slowed the rate, as the impressive Rafiq (2-21 off four) and Rudolph (0-22 off three) made boundaries hard to come by.

The young off-spinner made an important breakthrough by catching Allenby off his own bowling, and later had Dippenaar (20) stumped by Gerard Brophy from his last ball. His economy was also excellent, and meant the Foxes’ momentum had stalled somewhat.

When Dippenaar was out, the score was 114-4 and meant the team had added only 49 runs between overs 6 and 14.

The team needed to put their foot down, and Paul Nixon kept things moving with a 27-ball 32.

When he was well caught by Gale at short fine leg, James Taylor (15* off 13) and Wayne White (12 off nine) took the team up to 164-6, which appeared to be a competitive total.

It would have looked even better had Claude Henderson held the dangerous Gale in the first over at mid-off after birthday-boy AJ Harris had built up some good early pressure. However, the chance went begging, and the team suffered the consequences in full.

It was Rudolph who was the main aggressor in the partnership, but Gale was certainly no slouch and the pair found the boundary with regularity.

The duo hit the ball straight, and either threaded the ball past the fielder or took him on by going over the top.

It was intelligent and powerful batting in equal measure, and meant the visitors had almost cancelled out County’s excellent powerplay by being just four behind at 61-0 after the first six.

In total, the duo scored thirteen fours and a six between the third and eighth overs, and individual fours from overs nine and ten meant Carnegie had scored 98 from their first ten.

With just 67 needed from the last ten with all ten wickets in the shed, the pair had done the majority of the hard work. Neither wanted to let up though and their continued aggression proved to be their downfall.

Iain O’Brien (1-36 off four) struck first by having Rudolph well caught by Taylor at long-off, and Henderson (1-27 off four) made amends for his earlier blip by having Gale caught by the Kiwi in a similar position.

Wickets change games and suddenly Carnegie went from cruising to just wobbling slightly, scoring 13-2 between overs 10 and 13 as Allenby (0-11 off two), O’Brien and Henderson all bowled with much-needed tightness.

It still should have been just a blip for Carnegie, as 54 runs were needed from the last seven overs with eight wickets in hand.

Michael Vaughan and Brophy found things less easy though, and with fading light also an issue, the bowlers sensed an opportunity.

It was do-or-die time, as a defeat would have ended the team’s qualification hopes. O’Brien and Henderson kept up the squeeze and Carnegie were 121-2 after 15.

Interestingly, that was one run behind County’s tally at that stage and the team were right back in the mix-up. It was then over to White and Harris, with 44 needed off the last five.

White, who had earlier gone for 12 in his first over, returned to bowl a magnificent three-over stint including the last over for just 17 runs.

He also claimed two wickets, which mirrored the efforts of the returning Harris, who also bowled beautifully on his 36th birthday.

The seamer turned back the years with two brilliant death overs, and he castled former England captain Vaughan to turn up the heat on Yorkshire as 29 were required off three.

That bought Shahzad to the wicket, and it was his devastating assault which clinched the opening game of the campaign at Headingley when a target of 22 from two was achieved.

There was no repeat of the hitting this time and White (2-27 off four) built up the pressure, going for just four singles in the 18th to nail home County’s advantage.

Gurney then held a sharp chance at short fine-leg to give Harris (2-30 off four) a second wicket in the 19th, and although Adam Lyth flicked a four down to fine leg, only seven runs were conceded and 18 were needed off the last.

It was a complete turnaround, and Rudolph and Gale must have been watching on in shock after their earlier efforts.

White sent down a dot and was then unfortunate to see an inside-edge fly off Lyth’s bat down to fine leg.

He gained revenge by having the young left-hander caught at the wicket, and when Sayers could only scramble a single off the next, the best Carnegie could get was a tie with 13 needed off the last two balls.

White held his nerve and Brophy could only scramble a single off the penultimate ball. The bowling all-rounder then claimed a richly-deserved second wicket off the last ball, to cap a mightily-impressive performance.

It is easy to forget White made his Twenty20 debut in the first game of this season, and he has learnt ever so quickly and appears to thrive on the pressure of the T20 cauldron.

With the experienced Harris alongside him, County had got over a finishing line that looked very distant after 30 overs of the contest.

It really was a tremendous win in a good atmosphere, and the team now face a really tough final group assignment against a powerful Durham side.

Durham proved extremely difficult opposition earlier in the competition, with the side winning at the death after du Toit smashed a six and four off the last two balls of the game to get the seven runs needed.

Sunday promises to be a real thriller, with everything at stake in a winner-takes-all showdown at Grace Road.

It looks as though third place will not be good enough to qualify for the quarter-finals given one team out of the three sections misses out, although there is the added incentive of playing in the first division of next year’s P20.

With Notts and Yorkshire still able to grab that third position, it means every fixture on the final day has something at stake, which should make for a fascinating afternoon.

A replication of today's atmosphere will help the team no end, so continue to get behind the Foxes as they look to progress further.