Bears back in town

Date: Friday 23 July 2010

It seems light years ago since Leicestershire Foxes played a Clydesdale Bank 40 game but the latest instalment of the competition occurs on Sunday against Warwickshire Bears.

With lots of t20 action and Championship games to boot, you can be hard pressed to remember the last game we played in the tournament!

That was a fabulous victory at Durham Dynamos and after five games, the Foxes’ record stands at 2-3 in the CB40 competition.

The Bears are in town for the second Sunday running and the Foxes will be desperate to overturn last week’s t20 defeat and make a push in the 40-over format.

So far results have been mixed; but performances against Nottinghamshire Outlaws and Durham Dynamos can give everyone plenty of heart as they were dominant victories.

Jacques du Toit’s batting was at the heart of both of those wins, with Will Jefferson and Andrew McDonald also coming to the party.

The Foxes lost at Edgbaston earlier this season, as Ian Bell played a classy knock and Chris Woakes provided some lusty blows, as he did last Sunday.

Woakes is an outstanding young prospect and the Foxes will certainly need to keep an eye on the talented all-rounder.

They also have a number of canny operators to take the pace off the ball, like the spin of Imran Tahir and Ant Botha and the medium pace of Stef Piolet, Keith Barker and Darren Maddy.

Maddy’s form has been good and his know-how of Grace Road will be invaluable to the visitors.

However, the Bears come to Leicester on the back of a hefty Championship defeat inflicted by another former Leicestershire star.

Stuart Broad looked set to take all ten wickets at one stage – he’d have been the first bowler on the circuit since former County colleague Ottis Gibson achieved the feat – but settled for a brilliant career best 8-52 as Notts won by ten wickets at Edgbaston.

The Bears batting has been fragile this season and given their good one day bowling, this is an area the Foxes will be looking to pounce.

Warwickshire have always been a good one day side though so the team will have their work cut out if they are to level up the one day record against the Bears this season.

A fine win in Birmingham in t20 shows the Foxes can do it. As ever, Neil Carter will be a key man up front. If you get Carter, that gives everybody a lift and allows things to settle down.

The Foxes have shown that they can match any side in this division and will hope to welcome back McDonald to the side that lost last weekend.

The Aussie missed the game against Glamorgan with his shoulder problem and his fitness will be monitored ahead of a busy period of Championship matches.

Jefferson returned to the side at Swansea and the opening batsman will be looking to pick up where he left off in the tournament earlier this campaign.

Brad Hodge, of course, will be missing, but Claude Henderson’s spin will be key and the Foxes can call upon Jigar Naik if they fancy a second slow bowling option.

One man definitely missing from the team who beat Durham at the Riverside is Josh Cobb, who has an ankle problem.

Greg Smith is back from university and provides competition on the batting front, while Wayne White has fully recovered from his broken finger and gives captain Matthew Hoggard another three-dimensional option.

James Benning and Nathan Buck will also be pressing for recalls so there’s plenty of competition as the Foxes look to clinch a semi-final berth in the second half of the season.