Foxes exit t20 competition

Date: Sunday 18 July 2010

Leicestershire Foxes lost their final Friends Provident t20 game of the campaign and therefore exited the competition in a real game of two halves at Grace Road.

After restricting Warwickshire Bears to what looked a below par score of 137-7 with a bowling and fielding performance of high discipline, the batsmen couldn't get over the finishing line as the visitors also excelled with the ball.

Brad Hodge had a fine game in what turned out to be his last appearance for the Foxes this term but it was former Fox Darren Maddy and Chris Woakes who did most of the damage as the Bears got home by eight runs to top the group.

Hodge scored 22 from 16 deliveries after previously taking 2-23 from his spell but Maddy scored 41* from 29 balls and then took 1-9 to help his side to victory in their first ever t20 game at Grace Road.

Woakes was also in fine form. The promising young all-rounder made 18 from seven balls to ensure his side ended with momentum and then took 2-16 - including the important scalp of Hodge - in a superb stint that put the side on the back foot.

Although Hodge hit four early boundaries in the reply, the team did not find the ropes for ten overs and that statistic proved costly.

When James Taylor (29) did find the fence with a superb reverse sweep, the Bears were in the driving seat given their other bowlers built on Woakes' work.

Medium pacers Stef Piolet, Keith Barker and Maddy were particularly difficult to get away, which illustrated the slow nature of the wicket.

It all meant the Foxes ended without a home victory throughout 2010 but one consolation was that the result was academic given Northamptonshire Steelbacks won at Durham Dynamos.

The Foxes went into their match knowing they needed to take care of their own business and then hope the Dynamos and Yorkshire Carnegie did them a favour by beating the Steelbacks and Derbyshire Falcons respectively.

Although Yorkshire triumphed against Derbyshire, Northants coasted to victory in the North East to clinch fourth spot in the table.

So it all needed three results to go the Foxes' way and the first challenge was to try to get off the mark at home against the Bears, who had the incentive of knowing they could top the group if they won.

Leicestershire won the toss and invited the opposition to bat first and the team showed two changes from the excellent win at Trent Bridge on Thursday.

The hero on that evening was undoubtedly Andrew McDonald but a shoulder injury ruled the Australian international out of this crucial match.

Will Jefferson was struggling with an Achilles problem too, so in came James Benning and Matthew Boyce, who was making his first t20 appearance of the campaign.

The Bears may well have remembered Boyce following his heroics as twelfth man in the first game at Edgbaston; on that occasion the left hander ran out three home batsmen.

And like in Birmingham, the Foxes produced a quality performance in the field. The bowlers operated intelligently and there was plenty of energy and quality throughout to restrict the Bears to 137-7.

Maddy struck three sixes along the way and Woakes took 16 off the last over to ensure the visitors ended with impetus. He then sent down an opening spell of four overs at the same cost to give his side a real boost.

Earlier in the afternoon, Leicestershire would have been delighted with the efforts of their bowlers, with Nadeem Malik bowling brilliantly up front and at the death and Hodge and Claude Henderson also in total control.

Malik went for just 22 from four overs, which included a maiden, while Henderson and Hodge snared 4-44 between them.

Jonathan Trott and Neil Carter opened for the Bears and early breakthroughs were going to be vital to stop the pair from scoring at a brisk rate.

Carter made his intentions clear by charging the very first ball received and he skewed it for four. The left hander has a reputation for scoring heavily against the Foxes and a cut for four in the second demonstrated how hard he can strike the ball.

A drive over the top provided another boundary and Hoggard opted for a change of tack as Hodge replaced the skipper to bowl the fourth over.

Carter immediately drove through the covers for a fourth boundary but Hodge gained an important wicket by trapping Trott leg before. The off spinner was getting him out for the second time this season so it was a good move to bring the slow man on at an early stage in proceedings.

Malik continued his excellent work from the Pavilion End and he was tieing down the dangerous Carter.

Indeed, his third over was a maiden – those are precious commodities in this format - and Hoggard built on that good work by bowling the batsman after reintroducing himself for the last powerplay over.

The Foxes restricted the Bears to 30 from six overs, which was an excellent return all things considered and Barker was now at the crease.

The former Blackburn Rovers and Rochdale footballer has been in good form this campaign and he pulled a boundary over mid on in the seventh before driving pleasantly down the ground in the next over as his innings took shape.

A more agricultural stroke bought a second consecutive four and captain Jim Troughton got in on the act with two excellent straight drives in the ninth.

Twenty-three runs had come from the last two and Hodge was bought back to try to regain some control.

It worked given only four singles came from the first four deliveries and a wicket fell on the fifth as Barker tipped off balance attempting to cut and Paul Nixon whipped off the bails.

It bought Maddy to the wicket and Henderson only went for four in his opener as the spinners strangled the innings.

Maddy faced his old Foxes opening partner Hodge and a deft late cut raced away for a boundary. The all rounder also smashed a straight six onto the Boardroom balcony for the game's first six but the spinners were generally operating effectively.

Hodge finished with 2-23 from his allocation and Benning replaced Henderson to allow the slow left armer to change ends.

Maddy struck a six and dabbed a single to bring up the 100 in the fifteenth but the medium pacer got some reward by bowling Troughton.

That left the score on 102-4 after fifteen and Henderson's return was exceptional as he went for just two. Benning then bowled a great over that cost just four and the score was 108-4 after seventeen overs before Henderson produced some more magic.

Henderson bowled Rikki Clarke and Tim Ambrose and the spinner, who has been simply outstanding throughout the t20 competition, finished with 2-21.

Maddy struck a six over mid wicket in the penultimate over but Malik went for just 22 overall; a commendable effort. Hoggard finished the innings and after bowling two dots, the next three balls went four, six, six through and over the off side.

The skipper gained revenge by getting Woakes out from the last ball but his little cameo and Maddy's knock propelled the Bears to a half-decent tally; certainly more than they looked like getting at one stage.

So at the halfway stage, the Foxes and Yorkshire needed 138 to win while Durham had to prevent Northants from reaching 130 in order for the Foxes to progress.

That all became irrelevant as Leicestershire could not get the runs they required to gain the vital two points. Woakes continued his good work by trapping Jacques du Toit leg before in the first over and that was a blow to the chase.

Hodge then got the boundary tally open with a great shot over cover from the first ball of the second. Later that over, he advanced to smash through extra and a lovely late touch also raced down to third man as 13 came off the second.

Woakes produced another fine over but Hodge was enjoying facing Carter and a powerful cut went through backward point for another boundary.

The young seamer was bowling brilliantly from the Pavilion End and he picked up a crucial wicket by removing Hodge's off stump in his third over.

Piolet bowled a good over in going for just three and Woakes then finished his superb spell. Imran Tahir was another key man on this surface and he struck in his first over in strange fashion. Benning played the ball but it rolled backwards and Ambrose took the bails off with the all rounder out of his crease.

The Bears had 48 off eight and the Foxes were 46-3 at the same stage. Nixon was very nearly run out without facing after a direct hit knocked down the stumps but the batsman survived.

After nine the score was 49-3 and the rate was up to eight an over. The team needed to get on top of that but the going was tough. By the end of Tahir's second over, that rate was up to 8.5 from the last ten overs.

The bowling was proving very awkward to get away and with Warwickshire continuing to take the pace off the ball, that task was not getting any easier.

By the end of the twelfth, the Foxes had gone eight overs without finding the boundary and it was proving a huge hurdle. Maddy sent down yet another tight over and with seven overs to do, the rate was now above ten an over.

Taylor's clever reverse sweep in the 14th was the first four in ten overs and by the end of that over the score was on 74-3. Nixon then holed out off his old mate as Woakes took a comfortable catch at deep mid wicket.

By the end of the fifteenth, the equation was 58 runs required off five with Tahir coming back on. Wayne White drive through cover for four and five wides then helped the cause as thirteen came from the over.

The key wicket then fell though as Taylor skied an attempted drive and Ambrose took a good catch in the wind running backwards. The left armer, who was having a fine game, then knocked out White’s leg stump.

Boyce came in and swept for four and then cut late and after 18 overs the score was 108-6. It left 32 required from the last twelve balls

Boyce (15* from 8) and Henderson (17* from 11) had not given up the ghost and the spinner launched a huge six over mid wicket for the first maximum of the innings and then hit a full toss in that region for four to lift spirits.

A single and a wide followed but only two runs came from the last three balls as Barker regained composure. It left seventeen needed from the last over. Even though Carter bowled a wide, six came from the first four balls and that left 11 needed off two balls.

The experienced seamer saw the job through, and the Foxes were left to rue another home setback and, not for the first time, wonder what might have been.

The team struggled to fire on all cylinders at home, and this match was a microcosm of that fact. In previous games it has proved a struggle to contain, but today the bowling and fielding was excellent and the batting didn't come off.

It was a disappointing way to end the campaign but Leicestershire need to forget about it and focus on the return of the the LV=County Championship as they look for a third consecutive away win when they gace Glamorgan at Swansea on Wednesday.