Super Foxes strike down Lightning

Date: Sunday 23 August 2009

Pro40 report: Leicestershire Foxes 222-6 (Benning 89, New 50) beat Lancashire Lightning 146 (Horton 34, du Plessis 30, Naik 3-21, Henderson 3-30) by 76 runs.

A brilliant innings from James Benning and fantastic spells from Claude Henderson and Jigar Naik ensured Leicestershire Foxes registered their first Pro40 win of the season by 76 runs against previously unbeaten Lightning Lightning at Grace Road.

Benning (89) shared 118 for the first wicket with Tom New (50), and although the team lost momentum when the pair were removed, the Foxes still made a competitive total of 222-6 against their opponents.

Henderson (3-30) then delivered a crucial stint by removing key men at the top of the order, and Naik came on later to snare 3-21 and ensure County sealed an impressive triumph against a strong visiting outfit.

It capped off a great weekend all round for Foxes fans, who saw their side beat Gloucestershire in the Championship on Saturday and also witnessed England regain the Ashes at The Oval.

Supporters were also pay tribute to HD Ackerman, who said goodbye to everyone at the club during the interval after five fabulous years at the club.

It was a nice touch during a fine afternoon all-round and it started well as skipper Boeta Dippenaar again won the toss for the Foxes and elected to bat first.

Dippenaar has barely lost the flip of the coin since being installed as Leicestershire captain, and gaining first use of the pitch that was used against Kent Spitfires on Tuesday evening was always going to be important.

Signs of the strip wearing were evident when the Foxes batted, as although the team had cruised to 121-1 at the halfway stage, Lancashire’s spinners turned the screw and ensured their side had a reasonable target to chase.

Gary Keedy, Stephen Parry and Francois du Plessis took 4-116 from their combined 24 overs, and that went a long way to slowing down the run rate.

The match began at a frenetic pace as New, who moved up to take the place of the injured Matthew Boyce, formed an excellent stand with Benning to get things off to a flyer.

The Lightning started by operating their Twenty20 plan seen earlier this summer. They opened with leg-spinner du Plessis and it was an initial success, with just a wide coming from the first over.

The leggie is often withdrawn after a cheeky opening over but this time continued from the Bennett End, with Benning opening his boundary account with a deft late cut.

New added a four with a fine glance off loanee Tom Lungley, while Benning also struck two fours off the seamer; a powerful cut and a flowing drive wide of mid-off.

Kyle Hogg was bought on after two overs of the slow stuff, and New greeted his arrival with a drive for four through cover. Stand-in skipper Mark Chilton kept the changes coming, with Steven Croft replacing Lungley at the Pavilion End.

Croft overstepped early in his spell and New dispatched the free hit with a classy stroke. Rather than looking to slog the ball, he kept his shape and caressed a drive through the covers.

The pair looked in fine form and took their stand past 50 in the tenth, and Benning added his fourth and fifth boundaries with a square cut and cover drive later that over.

Benning then scored three more fours from the first three balls of Lungley's return, striking through cover, backward point and third man.

The aggressive batting forced Chilton into a change of tack and the introduction of spinners Parry and Keedy meant that all three spinners had been utilised within the first fifteen overs too.

It was certainly quirky thinking but Parry's introduction could not stop Benning moving to 50 from 48 balls in a knock that included eight fours at that stage.

Runs continued to come. The 100 came up in the 17th over and New played two deft late cuts off Keedy and a four over mid-on off Parry to move towards his half-century.

That came up from 52 balls with five fours, although the batter was dismissed shortly after when keeper Gareth Cross held a good catch off Keedy to give the visitors a much-needed breakthrough.

The wicket stalled momentum for a while as it always does, with Chilton keeping the spinners operating. Keedy, who has somehow escaped the attention of England selectors over the years, operated with intelligence and made scoring difficult.

du Plessis returned to partner Keedy as Parry had a breather, and there was not a boundary for a few overs as the tweakers got to work.

However, Benning cut loose in the 23rd over - literally - with a fine late cut to the third man boundary and then lofted du Plessis for six and four in the next to withdraw the handbrake.

Keedy was proving a harder taskmasker though, and helped his side maintain some control with a fine spell from the Bennett End. That continued when he trapped number three Jacques du Toit leg-before after the batter got no wood on an attempted sweep

James Taylor joined Benning and both continued to accumulate against the slow men, moving the score on to 159-2 with twelve overs remaining.

Benning looked set to make a century after progressing to 89 by that point, but went back to du Plessis and was bowled.

It was a shame the batter could not make it to three-figures, but the runs came off just 88 balls and it was a fine knock nevertheless in just his third one-day outing for the club.

Benning certainly looks to be a good acquisition for the club. His dismissal ensured the visitors were able to get a foothold in the game and the boundaries dried up as the spinners bowled well.

Indeed, the next four did not come until the 31st over when Taylor punched a drive through extra. Parry then finished his spell in style, bowling Taylor for 18 to end with highly-credible figures of 1-34 from eight overs.

du Plessis also finished tidily in taking 1-45 from eight in all. It meant County, after a rapid start, had lost their rhythm and were now 181-4 with seven overs left.

Late-order impetus was provided by Paul Nixon (24) and Dippenaar (20). Nixon got settled at the crease and found the boundary in the 35th, dropping back to cut Keedy through extra.

A Dippenaar on-drive through straight mid-wicket bought up the 200 in the 36th, and a fantastic Nixon switch-hit over conventional extra in Keedy's last kept the board moving.

Despite the boundary, the spinner finished with 2-37 from his eight, and County had only progressed to 214-4 with two overs to go when a much larger score looked on the agenda.

The Foxes would have hoped for more boundaries from the two batsmen at the crease but both fell to the next two balls.

Dippenaar selflessly gave up his wicket in the pursuit of late order runs, hitting the ball straight to Chilton at cover and being run out attempting the risky single.

Nixon then lofted a drive off Hogg to the safe hands of du Plessis - one of the circuit's best fielders - at long-off, and that left the far from ideal scenario of having two men in who hadn’t faced a ball between them.

Naik and Wayne White had to settle for scampering hard; both finishing unbeaten on four as the Foxes closed their innings.

Although 222-6 was a competitive tally, County had not doubled their score from twenty overs despite having nine wickets in hand, so they will have been a little disappointed at the halfway point.

Having said that, the runs were in the bank on a pitch that was getting slower and lower and that factor proved to be decisive.

A lot was going to depend on how County’s spinners fared after watching Lightning’s tweakers operate with skill.

The slow bowlers duly delivered. Henderson, Naik and the occasional twirl of Dippenaar snared 7-56 from 14.2 overs, which ensured there was only one way the result was heading.

To add to those stats, Henderson and Naik both played key roles in run outs to ensure the spinners had a hand in nine of the ten wickets to fall.

The only wicket that had nothing to do with the twirlers was debutant Nathan Buck’s first List A wicket – and what a victim to claim.

Buck bowled Indian star VVS Laxman with an absolute beauty, nipping one back off the seam to castle the overseas player. The teenager, who claimed Mark Ramprakash as his maiden first-class wicket earlier this month, now had another notable scalp for the scrapbook.

Any thoughts that the wicket would ensure County some control were quickly laid to rest though.

Paul Horton (34), who has opened the innings on countless occasions for the visitors anyway, came in at three and looked a million dollars; cutting through backward point and deftly playing a late cut in Harry Gurney's second over.

The Aussie also played a perfect square drive and cover drive off Buck in the next to keep the board moving, and Mal Loye also got settled in by playing one of his trademark lap-sweeps for six in the fifth as the Lightning moved to 35-1.

Horton continued to drive impressively and played two more in the next that again rocketed to the boundary.

Loye also decided to take on the bowlers with some forceful strokes and the pair made an attractive partnership which passed 50 in the 7th.

Dippenaar decided on an early change of tack, with Henderson coming on in the eighth. It was a big call and the right one, with Henderson’s eight-over spell literally turning the game. His arrival had the desired effect immediately - although not in a conventional way.

Henderson, who took a wicket first ball the other evening against the Spitfires, also played his part in one here from his maiden delivery; collecting a throw from Nixon to run out Loye, who was sent back by his partner after not liking the look of a risky single.

That bought the classy du Plessis (30) to the wicket. The all-rounder, who starred here earlier this season in the Twenty20 Cup, started ominously with a well-timed drive through backward point.

Horton was also going nicely but Henderson is a canny operator and tied him down. The spinner then struck as Horton attempted a sweep, bowling the Australian round his legs.

It was part of a match-changing over from Henderson, who also enticed Croft to drag on during a double wicket-maiden.

From 70-2, the Lightning were now 70-4. du Plessis was still a massive threat though and he hoisted Henderson for six over mid-on at the end of the 14th.

Two more well-timed drives in the final over where restrictions applied helped the Lightning to 96-4 after their powerplay overs, which meant they were ahead of the rate despite losing four wickets.

A powerful Chilton sweep bought up the 100 in the next, and the game was still delicately poised. There were then a couple of decisive moments for Leicestershire and England supporters which decided the course of the afternoon.

Firstly, England regained the Ashes at The Oval, and then du Plessis was drawn into a lofted drive off Henderson and was well caught by Buck at long-off.

Gareth Cross (25*) was the new man in, and he was involved in an unfortunate run out with his captain. The 'keeper drove the ball back to Naik, who got a hand on the ball and Chilton – who it is fair to say was not best pleased with the dismissal - was stranded out of his ground.

Henderson finished his matchwinning spell and Naik then struck twice in succession, trapping the duo of Kyle Hogg and Tom Lungley leg-before.

WIth the pitch taking spin, Dippenaar himself was the third option given Taylor suffered an injury when batting. He too enjoyed himself, gaining his maiden List A wicket in the process as as Nixon caught Parry at mid-wicket.

All told, Lancs had lost five wickets for 15 runs and their position was unrecoverable.

Cross battled on gamely, including striking two huge sixes towards the dressing room area, but the task was far too great.

He lost last-man Keedy, who was another left-handed leg-before victim of Naik. It was a great afternoon; a great weekend all-round for cricket followers of a Leicestershire and England persuasion.