Malik and Harris return from injury, but Seconds lose

Date: Tuesday 02 June 2009

Leicestershire Seconds 245 (Cobb 69, Roberts 61, Henderson 41, Patterson 4 wickets) lost to Yorkshire Seconds 247-6 (Bairstow 81*, Lyth 55, Harris 2 wickets, Henderson 1-23 off 10) by four wickets.

Leicestershire Seconds lost their SET game with Yorkshire by four wickets, despite half-centuries from Josh Cobb and Alex Roberts and an impressive all-round show from Claude Henderson at Grace Road.

The game marked the return from injury for both Nadeem Malik and AJ Harris, but their work was to come later as skipper Tom New won the toss and elected to bat on a gorgeous day.

Leicestershire would have been looking for a score of around 275-300 on the flat wicket with a short boundary towards the Meet, but were bowled out for 245 in 48.3 overs. Cobb provided the backbone of the innings with 69 after opening the batting.

Yorkshire reached their target thanks in large to Jonathan Bairstow, who made an unbeaten 81 to guide his side home with 13 balls to spare. Henderson excelled with the ball, taking 1-23 from ten beautifully controlled overs.

Earlier, Cobb oversaw a tough early period after Steve Patterson and James Lee bowled impressively for the visitors.

The duo shared three wickets as Matthew Boyce, New and Jacques du Toit all fell in the opening overs.

That left the team on 34-3, but Cobb and Joel Pope (18) regrouped, and were also thankful to some wayward bowling in that period from Yorkshire, who conceded plenty of extras.

Pope was dismissed with the score on 98, and Roberts (61) then picked up the mantle. The all-rounder shared 60 with Cobb, before adding more useful runs with Claude Henderson (41) as the innings went on.

However, the accurate Patterson returned to finish with a four-for, the pacy Lee finished with two wickets, and Lee Hodgson chipped in with a couple to go alongside solitary wickets for Jack Hargreaves and Charles Roebuck.

Azeem Rafiq also bowled a tidy spell of off-spin which cost just 35 runs from his full allocation, and it meant Yorks needed 246 to win.

Malik and Harris opened the bowling, but although they strived hard for a breakthrough, openers Joe Sayers and Ashley Lyth shared 69 for the first wicket.

The home side needed a wicket, and they got one when Dan Masters enticed Sayers to nick behind to New for the first breakthrough.

Henderson and Carl Crowe (1-38 off 10) then applied the brakes, with Henderson also claiming the key wicket of Lyth for 55 by trapping the batsman leg-before.

The slow left-armer had two overs saved for later in the innings, and Cobb, who was New’s third spinning option, came on to good effect by having Chris Taylor caught at deep mid-wicket by Masters.

When Crowe had Gary Balance (34) caught by Cobb at mid-wicket, the score was 145-4 and the match intriguingly poised as the run rate crept above six.

However, Bairstow and Hodgson shared an important 53-run stand, before Harris returned to give County some hope.

The seamer bowled Hodgson and trapped Roebuck leg-before second ball to leave the visitors on 198-6, but Yorkshire’s wicket-keeper was in no mood to let up.

Bairstow smashed a number of sixes on the leg-side to the small boundary as the innings progressed, and Rafiq (11*) joined him to add an unbroken stand of 49 for the seventh wicket, with the off-spinner clinching the match with a four past mid-on.

That pushed Yorkshire over the finishing line in a good game of cricket played on a beautiful summer’s day, and meant the Seconds had lost for the first time this season.