Foxes beaten by Bears

James Taylor’s excellent unbeaten 92 could not prevent Leicestershire Foxes from slipping to a 41-run defeat against Warwickshire Bears on the Duckworth-Lewis method in the Clydesdale Bank 40 competition at Edgbaston.

The Bears posted 321-7 in an explosive innings and the Foxes were 235-7 in reply after 34.1 overs with Taylor looking in great nick when extremely poor light halted play in Birmingham.

England batsman Ian Bell (72 from 58) and Neil Carter (68 from 38) were in good form and although County regrouped impressively following their dismissals, Chris Woakes and Tim Ambrose combined destructively towards the end as they added a quickfire unbroken 87.

Indeed, that stand was the difference in the game. For although the Foxes were behind on D-L, the team were one run ahead of the Bears when the scores were compared at the 34-over mark.

That late impetus was down to Woakes and Ambrose. Just when it looked like the Foxes had wrestled back control, Woakes’ unbeaten 49 from 18 deliveries and Ambrose’s 31 not out took the game away from the team.

Earlier in the day, Matthew Hoggard won the toss on a bitterly cold afternoon and invited Warwickshire to bat first at an Edgbaston ground that is undergoing major development.

The pavilion and dressing room has been demolished to make way to a new structure at the ground, so half the ground is under construction at present.

On the field, the Leicestershire side showed two changes to the team that beat Notts last weekend, with Andrew McDonald and Nathan Buck coming in for Nadeem Malik and AJ Harris.

Hoggard and Buck bowled up front and with a short boundary towards the Eric Hollies stand, the powerplay was going to be a challenge.

And so it proved. Carter was his usual aggressive self with his runs coming from just 38 balls and he shared 96 for the first wicket with Jonathan Trott.

Trott found that boundary in the opening over and Carter mishit a pull that went for six on that side in the fourth.

However, he stroked two conventional drives through cover and point and pulled again through square as the score reached 34 after four.

McDonald came on for an early bowl on his List A debut for the Club and Carter hit three more fours to move into the forties.

The scoreboard read 58-0 after the first powerplay and Carter bought up a destructive 26-ball fifty in the ninth. He hit ten fours and a six in that milestone.

Hoggard had resisted taking the bowling powerplay but the Bears utilised theirs early in proceedings. Claude Henderson came into the attack in the eleventh as Hoggard decided on a change of tack.

Carter continued to go well and Trott was providing steady support. The Foxes badly needed a wicket to get a foothold in the game.

Wayne White was bought into the attack and immediately had the desired effect. He picked up the crucial wicket of Carter by knocking out the middle stump.

That was a much-needed wicket and Bell came in to partner his England colleague. He got off the mark and bought up the Bears’ 100 simultaneously with a drive through extra.

Bell, like Carter, was instantly aggressive and struck a six and four in the 15th. The Foxes kept going and were rewarded with a second wicket.

Trott picked out Taylor at deep square-leg upon Buck’s return to the attack and the fielder took a good low diving catch. Jim Troughton joined Bell at the crease and at the halfway stage the Bears moved to 148-2.

The Foxes dried up the boundaries and Bell and Troughton were content to accumulate. When Bell did find the fence in the 24th, he bought up a fifty from 34 balls with five fours and a six.

Leicestershire were battling hard though and Henderson struck an important blow later that over by trapping Troughton leg-before after the batsman attempted a reverse-sweep.

It ended a 46-run stand and former Foxes favourite Darren Maddy came to the crease. His stay was brief as the returning captain had the batter caught behind by Tom New.

It was a good period of pressure by the team. Hoggard finished with 1-44 and only three fours came between overs 21-30 and McDonald claimed the fifth wicket as the Foxes continued to squeeze.

Home skipper Ian Westwood chipped the ball high to mid off, where Paul Nixon was safely underneath it. That left the score on 204-5.

With ten overs to go, the board moved to 207 and Rikki Clarke joined Bell. However, the established batsman fell to Henderson attempting a reverse sweep. Taylor did the honours at deep extra cover and four wickets had gone in the space of 45 runs.

Ambrose was the eighth man in. Clarke found the boundary three times in the 33rd but wickets continued to fall.

Buck bowled Clarke on his return from the old Pavilion End. Woakes almost chipped his first ball down Taylor’s throat but it landed just short of the fielder stationed at deep square.

It was to prove an important escape. Woakes thumped his third ball into the old dressing room area for six and the 250 came up in the 36th.

Woakes again hit a straight maximum in the next over and flashed a shot through the cordon as he continued to go well.

A six down to the short third man boundary took him into the thirties and another maximum over long on and a four through mid-wicket took the score near to 300.

Ambrose twice found the ropes in the final over and Woakes also scythed a four off the last ball as he fell a run short of a half-century as 50 came from the last five overs.

The stand gave late momentum and the Foxes needed a positive start given they were chasing more than eight runs an over.

Will Jefferson hit a fluent drive through mid-wicket and also hit a four down to third man. He smoked two sixes over mid-wicket and with Jacques du Toit also busy, the team began with promise.

However, Jefferson fell to a leading edge as Carter had the batsman caught by Bell at cover for 23.

Taylor drove through cover to open his boundary account and a straight drive also found the ropes in the ninth.

Woakes was causing problems from the City end and like opening partner Carter, was having a good game. He got his name on the card when du Toit nicked a good ball through to Ambrose.

That left the score on 51-2 in the tenth and the team were up against it in the face of some good bowling and dynamic fielding.

However, Nixon and Taylor upped the ante after sensibly playing themselves in. Nixon smashed a six into the Eric Hollies stand when Stef Piolet entered the attack, and two pulled fours through mid-wicket in the fifteenth were also welcome boundaries.

Nixon continued on his way and a pickup six over square leg went for six and Taylor also hit a maximum in that region as the score passed 100.

A tickle down to third man bought Taylor another boundary and the Bears bought on overseas leggie Imran Tahir on in the 18th over after the stand reached 50.

Nixon deposited the spinner over mid-wicket for his third six and Taylor hit Maddy for his second maximum when the medium pacer was introduced.

The breezy stand of 73 came to an end though as Tahir had Nixon well caught by Bell at mid-wicket. The fielder judged a steepling catch from the slog-sweep to leave the Foxes on 124-3.

McDonald came to the crease for his first knock in List A cricket for Leicestershire and Taylor, who was moving towards fifty, found the ropes once again in the 22nd over.

The youngster made it through to his half-century from his 49th ball and the knock included four boundaries and two sixes at that stage.

The batting powerplay was taken with the Foxes on 148-3 after 24 requiring 178 from the final sixteen overs.

Taylor hit the returning Carter over wide mid-wicket for four and also smashed Maddy in the same region in the next. McDonald was also accumulating well.

The pair were going along nicely but a mix-up over a single led to the breaking of the stand. McDonald was well short of his ground when the stumps were broken at the bowler’s end and the team were now four down.

White came in to lay down the gauntlet at number six and he smashed two straight fours to open his boundary tally in fine style.

He fell leg-before attempting to reverse sweep though, which was a blow. Taylor continued on his way and hit a reverse-sweep of his own for six in the 30th.

It left 121 needed off the last ten which was a tall order. Twelve runs came off the 31s and New then smashed a six over mid-wicket. Unfortunately, the keeper fell attempting to hit another maximum through the leg-side as Trott took a catch off Tahir.

Josh Cobb played a delicate stroke for four in the 33rd but when he was caught in the deep attempting to strike another boundary in the next over to become Tahir’s third wicket, the outlook was as gloomy as the Birmingham sky.

Taylor was still going strong at the other end but the umpires decided to take the players off given it was extremely dark.

The Foxes were 41 short of their required D-L target to tie at that stage, with Taylor unbeaten on 92 from just 77 deliveries. The batsman was in excellent form and struck six fours and three sixes all told as well as scampering well to pick up plenty of ones and twos.

The team will now be hoping to bounce back against Durham Dynamos at Grace Road tomorrow. The game starts at 1.45pm in front of the television cameras, so please come down and support the lads as they look to return to winning ways.