Allenby and O'Brien shine in fine win

Date: Tuesday 23 June 2009

Lancashire Lightning (0 pts) 138 (Croft 40, Chilton 34, O’Brien 5-23) lost to Leicestershire Foxes (2 pts) 146-5 (Allenby 69) by eight runs.

Outstanding performances from Jim Allenby and Iain O’Brien helped to set up a thrilling eight-run win for Leicestershire Foxes against previously unbeaten Lancashire Lightning at Aigburth on Monday evening.

Allenby made 69 from just 45 balls with six fours and four sixes, and O’Brien took a stunning 5-23 as County held their nerve to seal a super triumph in front of a sellout crowd in Liverpool.

The victory, coupled with Yorkshire’s defeat to Notts, puts County in second position in the Northern section on run rate with three games to go.

It was a tremendous effort to beat Lightning, who went into the game having won all six of their Twenty20 matches and included England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff ad India batsman VVS Laxman in their line-up.

The evening started well for the Foxes, with the batsmen making excellent progress after T20 captain Boeta Dippenaar won the toss and elected to bat at the picturesque venue.

County showed one change from the team that won the previous Twenty20 match at Derby, with O’Brien coming in for the injured Jigar Naik.

Allenby was in superb touch, helping the team to 96-1 after eleven overs of the innings.

The all-rounder and Matthew Boyce shared 66 for the first wicket, which kept up their 100% record of registering a 50-run stand at the top of the innings since being paired together.

The left-hander scored the first four of the innings with a cut boundary which raced across the fast outfield.

Allenby joined in the boundary scoring by taking two fours from the third, and also hit Flintoff for two sixes in the fifth to really get things motoring.

The Foxes went from 8-0 after two to 61-0 after 6, and Lightning turned to their spin duo Gary Keedy and Stephen Parry in a bid to slow things down.

The pair did apply the brakes, and Parry had Boyce caught by Paul Horton at deep mid-wicket to get the hosts on the board.

It was the beginning of an impressive spell from Parry, who ended with 2-21 from his four overs during a couple of tidy stints.

And, while Allenby kept scoring freely in reaching his half-century from just 29 balls with five fours and three maximums, no other Foxes batsman really hit their straps as the hosts turned the screw.

James Taylor and Paul Nixon did their best to keep things going, but when the pair fell along with Allenby in a five-over period, the Foxes started to lose their way.

Taylor was caught at long-on by Keedy off Chapple, while Nixon was run out looking to get Allenby another single on his total.

Allenby was then well caught by ‘keeper Gareth Cross off Parry, and by the end of the 16th, County were 121-4.

During that tricky period, the team had scored just 26 for the loss of three wickets in five overs, just as the accelerator was looking to be pressed.

Even if the team had continued at their current rate after 11 - which they would have felt was achievable given they had nine wickets in the bank - a score of around 170-180 was on the cards.

However, the Foxes had lost momentum at the crucial time, and now faced the prospect of a returning Flintoff for two of the remaining four overs.

Dippenaar (17), Jacques du Toit (10*) and Wayne White (10*) all made useful contributions as the innings went on, and County ended on 146-5, with the last ball of the innings being fumbled for four.

That was only one of two boundaries scored in the last eight overs – the other being a Dippenaar six over long-on – and County’s last nine overs had yielded just 50 runs for the loss of four wickets.

In fairness, there was some excellent bowling and fielding from the Northern group pacesetters.

Nevertheless, the Foxes will have been disappointed to end with their total, and it was going to take a huge effort in the field.

Steven Croft (40) looked intent on disrupting the rhythm of opening bowlers Harry Gurney and AJ Harris, and he found the boundary twice in the first over as Lancs started brightly.

O’Brien was bought into the attack to good effect in the third, as he had Paul Horton caught on the pull by Allenby at mid-wicket.

However, the Lightning had raced to 43-1 after four, and with Croft going well, Flintoff at the crease and the ever-dangerous Francois du Plessis to come, it looked bleak for the Foxes at that stage.

O’Brien had other ideas though. A brilliant fifth over resulted in Flintoff top-edging a pull to Wayne White running in at square-leg, while du Plessis edged an absolute snorter through to Nixon to put the score on 49-3.

Although Lightning were well ahead of the rate, the Foxes had a foothold in the game and seized the initative.

When Croft picked out White at backward square-leg, O’Brien had a four-for to his name and Lancs were 58-4 after seven.

Mark Chilton and Laxman then set about constructing a match-winning partnership without taking too many risks. It was County’s chance to squeeze, and they did it brilliantly.

Henderson, Allenby and White all did sterling work in the middle period, and slowed the rate down to leave Lancs requiring 55 from the last seven.

Two overs later, and that target was 51 from five. Not only did White and Henderson concede just four runs in those two overs, they also claimed victims apiece.

White took the important wicket of Laxman in the 14th, courtesy of a steepling catch by Dippenaar at mid-wicket.

When Henderson snared Cross leg-before in the next, Lancs were 96-6 and the pendulum had swung in Leics’ favour.

However, the match was still in the balance, and Chilton and home skipper Chapple took 13 from Allenby’s final over to give the hosts some momentum.

Henderson checked that progress by dismissing Chapple in his final over, and he finished with 2-20 from his four overs.

Crucially, the slow left-armer did not concede a boundary during the evening, and that was a telling statistic as Lancs now wanted 32 from the last three.

Nine were taken from White’s third over as the target now stood at 23 required from two, but O’Brien returned to claim his five-for and concede only six from his last to need 17 needed from the last.

It was a brilliant effort from the New Zealander, who was making his Twenty20 debut for the club. He ended with 5-23 and the man-of-the-match award for his outstanding performance.

Special mention must also go to White, who took 1-15 from three excellent overs and held three high catches under intense pressure to go with his useful contribution with the bat.

It was the returning Harris who sealed the win though. Chilton lashed the first ball over long-on for six to set up a potentially tense finale, but the seamer held his nerve to dismiss the batsman for 34 courtesy of White’s third catch at long-off from the second ball.

That, in effect, wrapped up the win, unless Parry and Keedy could pull something spectacular out of the bag.

Parry faced a dot ball before scrambling a two off the fourth delivery. It left nine runs needed off the final two balls, and he holed out to O’Brien at long on to end the game.

It was fitting that the Kiwi should have the final touch of the ball, and he could take it home with him after becoming the second County bowler to take a five-for in T20 cricket.

Allenby is the other to have achieved that feat (twice), and County had got over the finishing line of an absorbing encounter.

The victory was the third consecutive win in the competition, and the team will be happy to return from the two-week break from Twenty20 with a victory over a strong Lightning outfit.

The next challenge is against Notts at Trent Bridge on Wednesday, before two massive games at Grace Road against Yorkshire Carnegie on Friday evening and Durham Dynamos on Sunday afternoon.

It promises to be an exciting end to the group stages, and all is very much still to play for.