Young Foxes side beaten by Bears

Date: Sunday 09 August 2009

Warwickshire Bears 161-1 (Trott 73*, Carter 63) beat Leicestershire Foxes 158-8 (Thompson 39*, Boyce 32, Carter 3-22) by nine wickets

Fine all-round performances from Jonathan Trott and Neil Carter ensured Warwickshire Foxes beat an inexperienced Leicestershire Foxes side by nine wickets in the Pro40 game at Edgbaston.

Trott made an unbeaten 73 from 71 deliveries and took 2-16 while Carter scored a quickfire 63 from 38 balls and claimed 3-22 as the home side won with 17.2 overs to spare.

The Foxes named a youthful looking side for the game, while the one experienced player selected was Charlie Dagnall, who was making his comeback appearance for the club.

It was Dagnall’s first match in the first-class arena since 2004, while Chris Thompson and Dan Masters were making their List A debuts in an all-English qualified eleven.

Indeed it was those two who took the most positives out of the experience, with Thompson top-scoring with an unbeaten 39 in the Foxes’ total of 158-8 and Masters taking the one wicket to fall in the Bears’ innings.

Tom New skippered the side in the absence of captain Boeta Dippenaar and he was in charge of a young Foxes outfit.

That was shown in the top four, with Matthew Boyce and Greg Smith opening and Josh Cobb and James Taylor batting at three and four after an experienced Bears outfit won the toss and invited County to bat.

Smith was bowled early on by Boyd Rankin, but Boyce (32 from 38 balls), Cobb (10 from 14) and Taylor (24 from 41) all played nicely as the team started with positive intent.

Boyce and Cobb put on an attractive stand of 31 for the second wicket, with the left-hander playing nicely through the covers and the teenager stroking a couple of cracking drives through mid-on.

However, a miscued drive in the same region ended his knock as Ant Botha took a comfortable catch to give Indian test bowler Sreesanth a first wicket for his new side.

Taylor then joined Boyce to good effect, and the 19-year-old stroked four boundaries – including three through cover – in their stand of 32 for the third wicket.

Boyce was reprieved on 22 when dropped by Keith Barker at long leg, but a pulled six bought up the Foxes’ 50 in the 12th over.

The left-hander looked as though he would make the Bears pay for their drop as he moved on to 32, but he was dismissed by Carter in disappointing fashion.

Boyce chipped a catch to short mid-wicket as the left armer picked up the first of his three victims, and by the time he had also dismissed Taylor and Jacques du Toit, the innings was struggling at 81-5.

Carter formed a stranglehold in the middle overs with spinner Botha, as the duo conceded just 42 in their combined 16 overs.

It mean the team took 17.2 overs to post their second fifty of the game, with Taylor caught at backward point off the leading edge and du Toit caught at slip in the process.

Thompson and New (27) shared 41 for the sixth wicket, but with niggly, accurate bowling and half the side back in the pavilion, the accelerator could never be fully pressed down.

New did find the boundary through cover and mid-on but he was stumped by Tim Ambrose off Steffan Piolet with the score on 124.

Thompson helped the total move with a pulled four and six from the returning Sreesanth, but Wayne White and Jigar Naik were dismissed by Trott in the closing overs as the tally could only be taken to 158-8.

That looked a below par score, and with Trott and Carter starting like a house on fire, it was proved to be the case,

The duo batted in Twenty20 fashion as they got on top of the visiting attack, with Carter racing to a 28-ball 50 with eight fours and two sixes.

The left-hander played a number of trademark lofted strokes backward of square and cover drives in his knock, and with the fielding restrictions in place, it was near impossible to bowl at him in that form.

Trott also scored freely after surviving an early caught behind claim from White, and although he lost Carter to a catch by du Toit in the deep off Masters, the batter moved past fifty from the 50th ball he faced with his ninth four.

Jim Troughton joined Trott to take the side past their target with lots of overs to spare, so in all, it was a difficult afternoon for the young side in the heat in Birmingham.