Surrey sneak past Foxes

Date: Sunday 27 September 2009

Leicestershire Foxes 225-4 (Taylor 83*, Benning 47, Nixon 44 r.h.) lost to Surrey Brown Caps 228-6 (Spriegel 81*, Smith 65) by four wickets

A fine sixth-wicket partnership between Matthew Spriegel and Tom Smith ensured Surrey Brown Caps beat Leicestershire Foxes by four wickets in the final Pro40 match of the season at Grace Road.

After James Taylor top-scored with an excellent unbeaten 83 in the Foxes tally of 224-4 and County reduced Surrey to 98-5 in their knock, a last-day win looked on the cards for the team.

However, the stand of 126 between Loughborough University graduate Spriegel and Smith – who is on loan from Sussex – meant the Brown Caps won against the odds with five balls to spare at Grace Road.

They joined forces with the score on 98-5, and although Smith was bowled by James Benning in the penultimate over, the damage had been done and only two runs were needed to win when the youngster departed.

Earlier in the day in the Foxes knock, Taylor led the way with an unbeaten 66-ball 83; an innings which included six fours and two sixes. Former Surrey man Benning made 47, while Paul Nixon scored 44 before having to retire hurt with a blow to the ankle.

Both teams had named young sides for the last match of the season, with the Brown Caps having some relative newcomers in their side. Tom Lancefield was making his List A debut, while Tom Jewell was making only his second appearance and Jason Roy was playing for the third time.

Surrey won the toss and elected to bowl first and the ball nipped around in the opening overs. Benning opened got the boundary count up and running with a glance down to fine leg and Tom New followed suit with a flowing drive through the covers as the batsmen negated the early threat.

New played a similar stroke in the sixth and another excellent straight drive also raced across the fast outfield. The Foxes were making good progress and Benning greeted Jewell's arrival into the attack with a crunching drive through the covers.

Benning received a reprieve when Smith dropped a relatively comfortable chance in the covers off Jewell from the next ball and made Surrey pay with a drive through extra and a square cut that both raced to the ropes.

The score had now passed 50, but the visitors struck shortly afterwards when New lofted a drive to Lancefield off Linley.

Taylor came to the crease and played a delicate dab fine of third man to get off the mark with a four, and a similar Benning stroke kept the board moving.

Benning looked as though we was going to make a half-century, but was bowled by Spriegel having made 47. At the halfway stage, the Foxes were 80-2. Smith, who was later to share a batting stand with Spriegel, then came on to form a spinning duo and the slow left armer was certainly prepared to give the ball some air.

That proved to be a good theory on a slow pitch, and captain Matthew Boyce drove uppishly to his counterpart Stewart Walters at extra in the youngster's second over to give the visitors their third breakthrough.

Boundaries were hard to come by for a while but Nixon broke the shackles with a pull off Smith in the 26th as the score went past 100. The duo played the spinners sensibly and added the odd blow, with Nixon reverse-sweeping Smith for four.

A hard-hit cut to the ropes off Spriegel was another fine shot; as was another well-sturck reverse-sweep that raced away. The stand had reached 50 as the 30-over mark came up, with the Foxes well placed to form a launch-off on 137-3.

Taylor played a brilliant lap sweep in the next as the runs continued to flow, and the youngster cut strongly to the ropes shortly afterwards. His first maximum followed; a powerful stroke over long on's head.

Nixon repeated that feat with a similar shot in the next; albeit with more distance as it sailed into the crowd. A Taylor dab bought up an excellent half-century from his 49th ball. The knock included three fours and a six at that stage.

Unfortunately, Nixon had to retire hurt with the stand having reached 86, with Jacques du Toit coming in. The duo were certainly no strangers to Surrey, who saw the pair amass a hefty partnership in the Championship game at The Oval earlier this season.

du Toit nudged a four down to third man to get off the mark, and a second Taylor straight six ensured the score reached 190-3 after 36. A powerful cover drive for two bought up the 200, while fine strokes wide of mid-on and down to fine leg bought two more boundaries for Taylor.

du Toit then got in on the act, playing a splendid straight six that was so well-struck that it landed inside the boardroom.

The batsman was then bowled by Dernbach for a hard-hit 18 from 14 balls, with Wayne White seeing Taylor through to the end of the innings.

Surrey’s chase of 226 began well, with young duo Roy and Lancefield both getting off the mark with boundaries. Lancefield set off like a train, slamming boundaries through the cover region. He offered a half-chance went lofting an on drive to Jigar Naik, but the spinner couldn't quite cling on.

It was a frustrating start but all was about to change. Harry Gurney started the transformation by claiming a wicket with his next ball, having Roy caught behind by New with a good delivery. That left the score on 28-1 after five overs.

Nathan Buck made it two in two by having Lancefield caught behind off a snorter, and the picture had altered suddenly.

Walters and Gary WIlson got the board moving by scoring three boundaries between them in the eighth. Walters was certainly riding his luck, and after inside edging for four in that Buck over, did the same trick in Gurney's fifth over of the innings.

A more elegant stroke through the covers followed and the Brown Caps were ahead of the rate at that stage. However, the Foxes' bowlers kept chipping away, and New's third catch courtesy of an inside edge ended Walters' bright and breezy 11-ball stay of 18.

White then struck for a second time, having Wilson leg-before and the Foxes were now well on top. It was not all going the Foxes' way though. White became the second Leics’ player to suffer with injury and had to leave the field. Chris Schofield and Spriegel went about repairing the damage, and after they took ten off Naik's opening over, the score was now 87-4 from 17 overs.

Spriegel played a nice drive through straight mid-wicket shortly afterwards but soon lost his partner. Schofield nudged the ball to backward point and did not make his ground, being run out at the bowler's end by a throw from Boyce.

Smith came in and took the attack to the bowlers; despite his relative lack of first-class experience he displayed excellent confidence. Indeed, both batsmen chanced their arm and survived to tell the tale.

Firstly, Smith top-edged Claude Henderson just short of Gurney at short fine leg and Spriegel was nearly caught and bowled by Naik. The off-spinner dived low to his left and may well have plucked the catch; nobody was sure though, so Spriegel got the benefit of the doubt.

Still, fortune favours the brave and Smith went for his strokes while Spriegel continued to play well. The stand passed 50 and with 76 needed from the last twelve, the Brown Caps had given themselves a decent chance of winning the game.

Spriegel moved to a 64-ball fifty, and the fact that only two of those balls went for four showed the quality of his placement and running. The target was reduced to 61 from nine and Smith chipped more from that with two reverse-swept fours.

That ensured the Brown Caps were now well on top. Smith's maiden List A half-century came from 46 balls with five fours, and, with the 100-run stand coming up, the target was reduced to a now comfortable 28 runs from the last five overs.

The runs kept coming, and the target had been reduced to 13 from the final three overs. Although Smith fell with the score on 224, Spriegel hit the winning four off the first ball of the final over and Surrey had got over the finishing line by four wickets.

It was a disappointing way to end the season for the Foxes, but the crowd had the pleasure of seeing one final fine innings from Taylor. It really has been a season to remember for the teenager, and although the team did not win, you had to take your hats off the Brown Cap duo of Spriegel and Smith, who both played extremely well.