Taylor and Allenby shine in draw

Date: Friday 24 July 2009

Final report: Leicestershire (7 pts) 238 (Taylor 88, Allenby 71, Palladino 4-68, Wright 3-52) and 123-3 (Boyce 45*, Allenby 34*) drew with Essex (12 pts) 427-6dec (Amla 118, Walker 116*, Foster 85, Maunders 56, Allenby 3-70)

An outstanding innings from James Taylor got Leicestershire out of a potentially dangerous situation during the Championship draw with Essex.

With so much play lost to rain throughout the match, the draw was the predictable outcome, but at one stage County were 173-9 in reply to Essex’s 427-6 declared and still faced the prospect of a follow-on with 56 overs remaining.

Had the final wicket fallen at that point, County would have faced a tricky situation with the visitors bowling with their tails up.

However, Taylor made a brilliant 88 from 124 balls in dominating a 65-run last-wicket stand with Harry Gurney, who battled gamely in support of his colleague.

Although County still had to follow on, the partnership took 14 overs out of the equation and allowed the team to close in relative comfort on 123-3 in their second innings.

Taylor’s knock built on excellent work by Jim Allenby, who played superbly for 71 and was unbeaten on 34 in the second dig when the captains agreed on a draw.

Both Allenby and HD Ackerman started well when play started with Leics on 61-3, each playing a glorious cover drive to open their account for the morning.

Although it was a pleasant way to begin proceedings, Chris Wright settled into a decent spell of bowling from the Pavilion End and caused problems for both batsmen.

The seamer nipped the ball both ways and after bowling nicely outside off stump, brought one back to bowl Ackerman.

Wright continued to probe away alongside Tony Palladino and then David Masters and it was hard going for the batters in overcast conditions.

However, the in-form Allenby broke the shackles with a lovely cut and cover drive from consecutive balls which both sailed for four. Another boundary through the leg-side shortly after bought up his half-century from the 80th ball faced.

The all-rounder was well into his stride and continued to play with elegance and fluency. Allenby was picking the ball up extremely early, demonstrated by a powerful pull through mid on off Graham Napier.

He followed that up with another sumptuous cover drive and with Taylor playing an ideal foil, the runs were now flowing after a testing opening 45 minutes.

The duo went past their 50-run stand and extended that to 60 by the time rain was in the air at 12.20pm.

Although an early lunch was taken, seven overs were lost. The score at the interval was 135-4 but unfortunately the partnership went no further afterwards as Allenby pushed at a Masters delivery that nipped away and James Foster took the catch to end his stay.

Taylor continued to battle away and his patience was rewarded with a super drive through mid on and two beautiful clips through mid-wicket.

The bowlers were still posing plenty of problems and despite Taylor looking settled, Essex continued to chip away at the other end.

Two bursts of double wicket-taking in an over rocked the team, who started to look in a bot of bother.

Firstly, Tony Palladino struck twice in two balls to rock County as Tom New edged behind to Foster and George Walker was trapped in-front to an inswinger.

Wright was then reintroduced into the attack and also struck twice in an over, nipping one away to have O'Brien caught behind, before bringing one back to bowl AJ Harris.

County were still 254 runs behind and 27 shy of their first batting point at that stage and 56 overs were still able to be bowled.

Although County would have been confident in negotiating those overs, the team had only just passed the 50-over mark in their first innings when the last pair came together.

Taylor and Gurney did fantastically, though, sharing the highest partnership of the innings just when the team needed it most.

Taylor changed tack from being watchful to cutting loose, moving to his half-century from 97 balls with his ninth four; a nice drive that flew through the covers.

The youngster then pulled and hooked Palladino for consecutive boundaries to take the score towards their first batting point, which was achieved just afterwards.

Taylor kept finding gaps in the field to keep the runs coming and Gurney also got off the mark with a cracking lofted shot over mid on to further frustrate the visitors.

It made for entertaining viewing as a Leicestershire follower. Taylor was now firing on all cylinders and played a smashing cover drive to the boundary and Gurney replicated the stroke in the 61st over to take the stand past 50.

Taylor continued to attack and Graham Napier was next on the receiving end. The batsman hooked a great shot for six before launching into a cover drive to move just twelve short of his century.

It was to prove his last scoring stroke, with the youngster falling looking for another boundary. He cut a short ball from Ryan ten Doeschate high into the air and was caught by Masters at deep point to end a stay which included 14 fours and a maximum.

It was a brilliant knock from the teenager, and Gurney’s unbeaten eight from 26 balls in 44 minutes was also an important contribution.

County were invited to bat again, but the stand took the sting out of the visiting attack and there was little realistic hope left of an away win.

In the second innings, Matthew Boyce gained some important time at the crease - compiling an unbeaten 45 - while Essex claimed three wickets before the sides shook hands on the draw.

Josh Cobb fell just prior to tea - leg-before to Masters for six - and Boeta Dippenaar fell to the same manner of dismissal to Palladino after the interval for nine.

Boyce battled through the opening examination nicely, leaving the ball well and playing a number of attractive drives. Ackerman also looked in fine form, playing a lovely straight drive and two flowing strokes through extra early in his knock.

However, Wright put paid to his knock for the second time in the day with the same manner of dismissal, as Ackerman was bowled by an inswinger.

Allenby, who contributed substantially to the draw throughout with another excellent all-round performance, came in and picked up where he had left off in the first innings. He timed the ball nicely and shared an aesthetically-pleasing unbroken stand of 61 with Boyce.

The all-rounder hit the ball predominantly straight and through the covers while Boyce added some more classy offside fours as the duo found the ropes on numerous occasions.

It was a positive way to end the day and with no hope of an Essex win at 5.20pm, the captains shook hands with Leics taking seven points and Essex twelve.