Taylor's ton sets up super win

Date: Tuesday 12 May 2009

Worcs 264 (Davies 64, Smith 54, Moore 51, Henderson 3-44) lost to Leics 282-3 (Taylor 101, Dippenaar 63*, Ackerman 63) by 18 runs.

James Taylor scored his maiden List A century as Leicestershire Foxes beat Worcestershire Royals - who started the day as joint Group A leaders - by 18 runs at New Road.

Taylor, who was once on Worcestershire’s Academy, scored 101 from 109 balls against his former side as County rattled up 282-3.

In reply, Worcs always threatened but Paul Nixon shuffled his bowlers around well. The captain also cleverly resisted taking the fielding powerplay until it was forced and everyone nagged away to keep the hosts in check.

Earlier in the day, Taylor, who recently made his maiden first-class century, featured in substantial stands with HD Ackerman and Boeta Dippenaar to build on good work from Matthew Boyce and Ackerman.

In team news, the County side showed two changes from the one that beat Ireland on Bank Holiday Monday.

Iain O’Brien was ruled out with a rib injury, and Josh Cobb was the other absentee as Jim Allenby and Claude Henderson came back into the eleven.

The Foxes were missing four frontline seamers, so Senior Coach Tim Boon opted for a youthful looking pace attack.

Wayne White, Harry Gurney and Alex Wyatt were selected alongside Allenby, but their turn was to come later as the Foxes were batting up front.

Boyce and Ackerman opened for the fifth time in succession in the competition, and again made a decent start.

The duo put on 65 for the first wicket, before Boyce was trapped lbw by England off-spinner Gareth Batty for 35.

Ackerman continued on his way to a half-century, making 63 in total before home skipper Vikram Solanki caught the batsman off the bowling of Matt Mason.

He shared 90 with Taylor, the first of two excellent stands featuring the talented youngster.

The teenager batted superbly well, timing the ball nicely and also scampering well between the wickets as is his trademark.

Dippenaar was another good foil for Taylor as the pair put on 121 for the third wicket. Dippenaar scored at a fraction over a run-a-ball, with his unbeaten 63 coming from 61 balls.

The knock contained three sixes and a four, and the innings finished nicely with Taylor making his ton. He sacrificed his wicket towards the end, being run out.

The 19-year-old hit seven fours and a six along the way, and his form so far this season has been outstanding.

Although it was a fine total, it was still going to take some defending against a very strong home batting line-up.

Solanki, the key man, fell early, as Wyatt (1-31) snared the batsman lbw. Steve Davies was in super touch from word go though, making a rapid half-century at a strike rate of well over 100.

County were certainly glad to see the back of the talented keeper-batsman when he fell for a 46-ball 62, with Allenby taking the wicket.

The all-rounder had the left-hander caught by Crowe, but Steve Moore – who has scored runs against County in the past – and Moeen Ali set about repairing the damage of the wicket.

The pair had put on 38 before the Foxes gained an important third strike as Moeen was run out by a direct hit from Taylor, who was enjoying his day immensely.

Despite the loss of three wickets, the hosts were on 137 at the halfway stage and still well-placed for a push.

White (2-57) struck an important blow in the mid-innings period by trapping the dangerous Moore lbw for 54 with the score on 143.

There was still work to do though, with former-Fox Ben Smith and County’s pre-season nemesis Daryl Mitchell at the crease. Smith had previously been dropped when on just ten.

Spin duo Crowe (0-41 off 9) and Henderson (3-44) bowled in tandem during the next period. They were trusted to apply the brakes throughout the reply, and that was proved a wise move as the pair went at around four-and-a-half runs an over during their spells.

Nevertheless, the partnership stood at 59 with 12 overs left, with 82 more runs needed. The Foxes needed to break it badly, and the batsmen contributed to their own downfall with another run out.

Mitchell gave up his wicket after a mid-wicket mix-up with Smith, with Taylor running to the stumps to complete a simple wicket and a second personal run-out.

It left the score on 214-5, and after 42 overs, a further 63 runs were needed. The situation worsened for the hosts in the next, as Henderson got a deserved wicket by having Batty leg-before and conceded just two runs in the process.

With another couple of overs passing, Worcs needed 45 from the last five.

The next phase of play was even more crucial given Nixon had not opted to take a fielding powerplay at any stage. Therefore, it was called automatically at that point.

Smith felt the impetus needed adding straightaway, but failed by scooping a catch to Wyatt at mid-off to give the returning White a second wicket.

That should have been the decisive blow, but the Royals did not give up. Ashley Noffke struck three fours in the same over - en route to 14 runs in all - to keep home hopes alive.

Henderson ended them though. Firstly, he tweaked one through Gareth Andrew to have the batsman comprehensively stumped.

Then came the decisive strike, having the dangerous big-hitting Noffke caught by White at long-on.

Henderson also had the final say, catching Matt Mason off Allenby (2-49) to wrap up a super win.