Season Review - Part Three - Second half of May

Date: Monday 24 November 2008

In the third part of our season review, we take a look at the second half of May.

The crucial FPT games were to come later, but first came an absorbing contest at Chelmsford in the Championship. County slipped to 4-4 on the opening morning thanks to some excellent bowling by Essex pacemen David Masters and Tony Palladino, and were grateful to Paul Nixon (57) and Jacques du Toit (44) to get the team up to 159.

Essex also struggled and were seven down at the close – mainly thanks to Nadeem Malik – and managed to scramble five runs ahead of County. Malik ended with a career-best 6-46, with Dillon du Preez also shining with 3-56.

Leics fared much better second time around, making 449 through Ackerman’s third ton of the season and a fine eighth-wicket stand of 136 between Nixon and Claude Henderson, who made 92* and 66 respectively. Boeta Dippenaar and Matthew Boyce also chipped in with 64 and 41, and it set an unlikely victory target of 445.

Essex closed on 69-1, so needed another 376 runs to win with County requiring nine wickets. Eventually the home side finished on 320-9, with some stubborn late-order resistance from Masters, Palladino and Kaneria in support of James Foster, who made a pugnacious unbeaten 88.

County could be pleased with their efforts after a fine recovery from their nightmare opening half-hour in the game, but will feel they should have won after Garnett Kruger put down a chance at mid-off late on, but it wasn’t to be.

It still meant Leics had only one defeat all season in all competitions, a record which would be sternly put to the test in the final two FPT games. Both were rain-hit affairs at Oakham School, with Warwickshire Bears claiming victory in the first before the Foxes hit back with a win over Notts Outlaws in the second.

Both were badly spoilt by rain, and the side batting first in each game had the crucial advantage as batting got harder in fading light and drizzle. The Bears posted 187-8, with the Foxes 53-2 from 17 in reply when rain came – eight runs short of the par D-L score with the ten overs needed to constitute a game being passed.

Still, a win over Notts would be enough to top the group and gain a home quarter-final berth, even if closest rivals Northants won in Ireland. That was gained after several calculations, recalculations and more calculations on a nerve-jangling day in Rutland.

The Foxes’ momentum was hit mid-innings with Ackerman and Dippenaar in full flow, and Patel and Graeme Swann stalled progress after the players returned in a reduced innings. The Foxes finally totalled 147-7 from 35, with the Outlaws finally needing 61 from 12 overs.

In fairness, they were unaware of that final target when first batting, but still batted slowly when they knew rain was likely to come again. After 10.2 overs – two balls after a game had been constituted – the Outlaws were 35-1. The Foxes would have won at that point, but the rain relented and the teams took to the field again.

With news of a Northants win filtering through, nothing but success would do. Notts were through regardless, but needed the win to ensure a home q-f.

The Foxes eventually restricted their opponents to 47-3 from their 12 overs and had gained the win by 13 runs – and a home quarter-final with Essex Eagles in the process. Still, it had been quite a day with hours of waiting, wishing and hoping!

The final game of the month came against Glamorgan in the Championship, which finished with an emphatic innings victory. The Foxes won shortly before tea on the third day of their encounter at Grace Road after good performances in all disciplines.

After making 390, County did not have to bat for a second time after shooting the Dragons out cheaply for 189 and 187 in their two knocks. Indeed, the second effort only got that far courtesy of a spirited last-wicket stand between Alex Wharf (51 not out off 50 balls) and David Harrison, who scored an astonishing 64 off just 27 balls.

The wickets in the game were shared mainly between du Preez (8-80 in all), Jim Allenby (five), Malik (three) and Henderson (three). Dan Rowe took the other. In the Foxes innings, Ackerman again top-scored with a brilliant 164, with du Toit the next highest with 63.

Running Totals: Champ: P6 W2, D4

FPT: P8, W5, L2, A1.

Player of the month for May: Ackerman.