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Date: Thursday 15 July 2010

Andrew McDonald put in a terrific performance upon his return to Leicestershire Foxes as the team kept their quarter final hopes alive by beating Nottinghamshire Outlaws at a floodlit Trent Bridge.

The Australian ace top-scored with an unbeaten 58 and then took a Foxes bowling record 5-13 to ensure a 23-run triumph was gained on the Duckworth-Lewis method.

McDonald scored his runs from just 44 balls as the Foxes tallied 145-5 from their allocation and also showed his talent with the ball to eclipse Jim Allenby in the record books and help the team get over the finishing line in the process.

With Northants beating Lancashire, this turned into the literal must win game and McDonald’s heroics went some way to achieving that.

Northants’ victory did put a bit of a dampener on proceedings but the two points gained means the Foxes can still qualify if they win their final two group games and results go their way.

That, quite simply, is the most important fact at this stage following three recent defeats; the team would certainly have taken the offer of that drink in last chance saloon had it been offered before this encounter.

To qualify, the Foxes must overturn their poor home form but there has been nothing wrong with the away results, which have yielded an incredible six wins from eight matches.

The latest victory was a good old-fashioned Foxes display; scoring a reasonable total and then defending like Trojans.

Just recently the side have been posting substantial scores and losing but the Foxes always seem to thrive on the pressure-cooker atmosphere of t20 cricket.

And at the scene of their famous win against Notts in the final of 2006 came another squeeze of the highest order with McDonald’s experience and quality coming to the fray.

The Outlaws were 107-9 when the rain came down and that was 24 runs shy of a revised D-L target of 131 from 19 overs.

The Foxes had earlier been inserted and their innings was based around McDonald’s good work after Will Jefferson had stemmed a feisty home effort in the opening overs.

Aussie Dirk Nannes is certainly fiery and forms a deadly opening partnership with England seamer Ryan Sidebottom. Nannes removed Jacques du Toit and Brad Hodge in his opening two overs as he put the Foxes very much on the backfoot.

Hodge’s 21 from 14 balls had helped the scoreboard along though and Jefferson then picked up the mantle against his former county. Jefferson played nicely in scoring 33 from 25 balls and his tally of three fours and a six matched the earlier efforts of Hodge.

Jefferson timed the ball well – as he has done throughout the t20 tournament this season – and after James Taylor was dismissed by Samit Patel, the tall batsman formed a useful alliance of 34 in 26 deliveries with McDonald.

The batter pulled Sidebottom for six before adopting a brace of different sweeps against Graeme White and his innings was just what the doctor ordered at that stage.

By the time the number three was caught behind by Chris Read of the bowling of Darren Pattinson, the Foxes had at least a platform to use after Nannes’ early strikes.

He and Sidebottom both went for just 28 from their allocation and when the opening bowlers can end with those figures after operating at the beginning and death, you know you have your work cut out.

However, McDonald played superbly and added important runs with Paul Nixon and Wayne White as the Foxes got towards the 150 mark.

The Aussie hit four fours and a six in his knock but a key feature was his good running between the wickets and that allowed the Foxes to score off most balls as the innings drew to a close.

His presence was a reassuring one and the statistics tell their own story. In this format his three innings have yielded two half-centuries and a 49 – so you can see how much he has been missed at Grace Road.

McDonald passed 50 from 44 balls with a number of his trademark strokes and although Sidebottom returned to remove Nixon, White’s 6* at a run a ball provided good support to McDonald as the pair added 34 from the last 23 deliveries.

The all-rounder helped to keep the Aussie on strike; a critical quality sometimes overlooked in the frantic nature of t20 cricket.

It by no means put an invincible score on the board but it gave the Foxes something to defend, and boy, did they do that with gusto.

Ali Brown started in his usual manner and although he scored a number of boundaries early on, Matthew Hoggard gained revenge by having him caught by du Toit after scoring 28 from 18 balls.

The knock included five fours and a maximum in his usual attacking style and the wicket certainly gave the Foxes a lift.

The team then used his dismissal as a foothold.

Taylor run out the dangerous Alex Hales and Nathan Buck had Matthew Wood – who played a key role in the Outlaws win at Grace Road recently – caught by Nixon, a score of 54-3 after seven was not looking so bright for the hosts.

Although the Outlaws were almost up with the rate, the top three have done a lot of damage in this season’s competition – so it left the rest of the line up with a challenge.

McDonald, quite simply, blew them away either side of a rain delay.

The medium pacer had a ball as he claimed the third five-for in Foxes history and he surpassed Allenby’s 5-21, which included an amazing four wickets in four balls, against Lancashire in 2008.

The key wicket was that of fellow Victorian David Hussey. After having Patel caught by du Toit at deep extra, McDonald got one through Hussey’s defences to land the crucial blow.

At 72-5 just past the halfway mark and McDonald and Claude Henderson going well, the Foxes scented blood. And McDonald struck three more times after a revised target had been set to make sure the team gained the vital two points.

He had Read caught by Hodge and Sidebottom caught by Taylor and bowled the dangerous White inbetween to end with outstanding figures that were his best as well as the Foxes.

Henderson’s canny slow left armers went for just 24 in four overs as he played a key support role; indeed a bowling partnership was formed in the middle overs that is so critical in this form of the game.

Having two quality experienced international operators who take the pace off during the pressure of a chase is a huge plus and their bowling efforts here were simply brilliant. Although Henderson didn't take the wickets on this occasion, his work was vital to the outcome.

Nadeem Malik returned to bowl Pattinson and although Steven Mullaney – who backed up his 0-25 from four overs with an unbeaten 29 from 20, the Outlaws were well short of their D-L target when it hosed down again.

It is a shame the Foxes haven’t had the luxury of McDonald’s performances for much of this campaign but now is not the time to wonder what might have been.

The team are still in with a shout and must now post two wins from home games against Durham Dynamos and Warwickshire Bears to give themselves a chance to progress.

It still requires things to drop in their favour – but the Foxes will not give up and would love your support as they bid to break their home duck tomorrow night.

For anything is possible in this form of the game!