Destructive Rogers downs Foxes

Date: Thursday 28 May 2009

Leicestershire Foxes 127-9 (Taylor 40, Nixon 25, Lungley 5-27) (0 pts) lost to Derbyshire Phantoms 129-2 (2 pts) (Rogers 58, Smith 47*, Gurney 1-18) by eight wickets.

Chris Rogers’ brutal half-century set Derbyshire Phantoms on the way to an eight-wicket win against Leicestershire Foxes in the Twenty20 Cup on Thursday.

County old-boy Rogers made 58 from just 36 balls with eight fours and three sixes, and despite a late fightback from the Foxes, the visitors won with an over to spare.

Earlier in the evening, Carl Crowe and Harry Gurney were bought in for Twenty20 debuts in place of the ill Claude Henderson and Alex Roberts.

The Foxes won the toss and elected to bat, posting 127-9 from their allotted overs.

James Taylor led the way with 40 from 39 balls, but he was one of only four batsmen to get into double figures as the visitors restricted the team with some canny bowling, in particular from Tom Lungley who claimed 5-27 off four overs.

Openers James Allenby (10) and HD Ackerman (12) got things off to a decent start, but Graham Wagg and Lungley - who has an excellent Twenty20 career record - pegged things back with three wickets in two overs.

The team went from 20-0 to 28-3, as Wagg (1-21 off four) had Allenby caught on the mid-wicket boundary in the third over and Lungley had both Ackerman and captain Boeta Dippenaar caught behind in the fourth off inside edges to keeper Jamie Piper.

That left Taylor and Paul Nixon (25) needing to consolidate, and the pair obliged with a 49-run stand at a fraction under a run a ball.

Although the pair batted well, the visiting attack niggled away accurately throughout, with seam doing the bulk of the damage as Tim Groenewald (1-15 off four) and Garry Park (1-18 off four) backed up the opening duo well.

However, Taylor and Nixon constructed their innings well and found the boundary when the opportunity arose.

Nixon struck a four wide of mid-wicket in the seventh over, and Taylor lofted a sweep for four in the 12th. Nixon backed that up with a pulled four in the same over.

Unfortunately, the batsman fell in the next over, being well caught at deep cover by Greg Smith off the medium-pace of Park.

That left the score on 82-4 after 13, but wickets then fell steadily to ensure the run rate was frustratingly kept down from the Foxes’ perspective.

Matthew Boyce was run out by Wagg’s direct hit for three, before Wayne White was bowled by Groenewald for nine.

Taylor was still battling at the other end, but he was the seventh wicket to fall. The innings included a huge sweep for six before he fell to a super catch by Park at backward point to end his excellent knock of 40.

That was Lungley’s third victim, and despite some spirited batted from Carl Crowe, Jigar Naik and Sam Cliff, the bowler wrapped up a five-for and the Foxes ended with a below-par total on a decent pitch.

It needed some extremely tight bowling to apply some pressure, and White and Harry Gurney did that up front.

The duo restricted the Phantoms to just two runs from the opening ten balls, but once Rogers got his eye in, life was extremely tough for the County attack.

The Australian international took a shine to the leg-side with some hefty blows, but also played a series of classy square off-side drives as he took the game away from the Foxes.

Greg Smith played an anchor role at the other end, and the Phantoms were off to a fine start at 48-0 from their powerplay overs.

Rogers continued to be destructive even with the fielders spread, playing the pick-up and pull to excellent effect.

It was somewhat of a relief when his innings came to an end. The batsman played one too many lofted shots in the air and White took a good catch off Taylor (1-24 off three) to continue his good day.

A lot of damage had been done when he was out for 58 with the score on 83, but the Foxes were determined not to give up the ghost.

The bowlers made the Phantoms work hard for their runs, and despite being 86-1 off 11, it took the team until the penultimate over to get their target as County’s bowlers kept battling.

Gurney was the pick of the attack with four excellent overs which cost just 18 runs.

The left-armer also picked up the wicket of Park to an outstanding catch by Cliff at deep cover to leave the visitors still requiring 10 runs from the final two overs.

Smith hit two boundaries in the penultimate over though, including a deft reverse-sweep for four off Taylor.

The South African finished on 47 not out, which was paced well given the destructiveness of Rogers earlier on.

The Foxes now travel to face Durham at Riverside tomorrow night, where a win is required to kickstart the campaign.

There were positives from the defeat, mainly Taylor’s all-round performance. Also, Nixon batted well and Gurney bowled quickly and accurately.

Naik (0-12 off two), Allenby (0-25 off four) and White (0-29 off four) all restricted the visitors with some tight overs, and the team will need to build on these positives at the Riverside.