Leicestershire Foxes Vitality T20 Blast at Grace Road Win

 

OUTLAWS COME AWAY WITH COMFORTABLE WIN 

Notts achieved a comfortable victory at Grace Road last night to go up to sixth in the standings. Leicestershire elected to bat and gave overseas all-rounder Wiaan Mulder a competition debut replacing Hamish Rutherford who had been called up to the New Zealand squad earlier in the day. Notts recalled Dane Paterson as Jake Ball made way. A bonus for Notts was that Christian was fit to bowl once more.

On a sunny evening in front of a good-sized crowd. Fletcher bowled the first over from the Pavilion End. Hill switched hit him for four but he fell next ball edging a slow ball bouncer to Moores, this wicket was the 100th by the Bulwell Bomber in the Blast. The next ball, the last of the over, saw Lilley depart for a golden out caught by Moores, 6 for 2. Paterson conceded 2 runs off the second over. Ackerman lofted Fletcher for successive fours over extra cover and backward square leg, eight off the over. Ackermann edged a four off Patel through Moores’ pads, seven off the 4th over. Ackermann danced down the pitch to Carter and was stumped by Moores, 26 for 3 after 5 overs. Christian bowled the last over of the powerplay, Leicestershire 31 for 3 after six overs. Notts well on top.

Mulder hit Carter for 6 over mid-wicket, 11 off the 7th wicket. Steel (12) tamely hit Christian low to Duckett at mid-wicket, 44 for 4. Mulder hit Christian (2 0 12 1) for 4 through fine leg, 8 off the 8th over. Harrison conceded 6 off his first over. Patel conceded three of the 10th, Foxes 59 for 4.

Mulder hit Harrison for six over long on, 12 off the 11th over. Carter (3-0-18-1) conceded five off the 12th over. Rishi Patel hit Samit Patel for a straight six, 11 off the 13th over. Mulder (32) was caught by Hales at long off, a swirler in the strong wind, Harrison the bowler, 87 for 5, four off the over. Paterson went for six in the 15th over.

Mike (10) swept Harrison (4-0-31-2) to the square leg ropes but fell leg before to leg spinners final delivery, 106 for 6 after 16 overs. Ahmed (1) going for a two off Fletcher (3-0-20-2) was run out via a throw from mid-wicket by Clarke, 108 for 7, six off the 17th over. Rishi Patel attempting a reverse sweep off Samit Patel (4-0-24-1) was bowled for 28, 116 for 8, seven off the 18th over including 4 leg byes. Naveen ramped Paterson for 4, but he departed next ball attempting the same shot as Paterson removed his middle stump. Davis fell first ball also losing his middle stump to Paterson (2.4-0-12-2). Leicestershire 123 all out off 18.4 overs. Parkinson 1 not out. Notts had bowled and fielded well, Leicestershire looked a poor outfit and Notts had what appeared an easy run chase.

Hales and Clarke set off like a train. Clarke leg glanced the first ball for 4 off Naveen (Pavilion End), the next ball was cover driven for four. The fifth ball was straight driven for four by Clarke, 14 off the opening over. Hales hit Parkinson's first ball to the cover boundary. The next ball was hit for a straight six. The 4th ball was hit to the mid-wicket ropes by Hales, 14 off the second over. The third over proved the most expensive of the match. Clarke got a single off the first ball. Hales lofted Mike for 4 and then pulled him for 4 through long leg. Next ball was a straight six and then followed it with another pulled four. The last delivery went for a massive six over mid-wicket, 25 off the over. Notts 53 for 0 off 3 overs. Mulder was hit for four by Hales through third man, seven off the 4th over. Clarke hit Naveen for six over long on but then was brilliantly caught on the run by Lilley on the mid-wicket ropes off Naveen for 22 off 13 balls, 66 for 1 off 4.4 overs. Hales (44 off 16 balls, 6x4, 3x4) fell off the last delivery of the over caught at extra cover by Ackermann, 67 for 2 off 5 overs. Duckett hit Mulder three successive fours, two through the offside and the second through the legside, 14 off the over. Notts 81 for 2 at the end of the powerplay, needing another 43 to win.

The 7th over was amazingly a maiden by Mike (2-1-25-0) to Patel, the all-rounder having conceded 25 off his opening over. Six came off the 8th over bowled by Ahmed. Davis, bowling his only over of the contest, was hit to the mid-wicket ropes by Patel and two balls later Patel hit him to the point ropes, 13 off the 9th over. Patel (12) skied Ahmed to Steel at long on off slow left-armer Parkinson, 100 for 3. Mullaney was out first ball to Parkinson the ball turning sharply to remove his leg stump, 100 for 4. This was the delivery of the contest, and Parkinson was to bowl the second maiden of the innings.

Duckett, in fine form. swept Ahmed for four and then hit him for a straight four, 10 off the over. Duckett hit Parkinson to the mid-wicket ropes, six off the 12th over. Christian (2) skied Ahmed (3-0-18-1) to Ackermann at mid-on, 117 for 5. Duckett (44 not out off 23 balls, 8x4) hit Parkinson (3,2 1 28 2) for a straight four and swept the following delivery to the square leg ropes to win the game at 2051. Notts winning by 5 wickets with 40 balls to spare, a very comfortable victory and a morale boosting one with Notts shedding their pyjamas tomorrow as they return to Leicester for a 4-day fixture. Notts still have much work to do if they are to qualify for T20 quarters, having won three and lost 3 of their opening seven fixtures.

Meanwhile, Zak Chappell had figures of 4-0-19-3 as Gloucester had a shock 4 run victory over Sussex, he has taken 7 wickets @10.00 with an economy rate of 7.00, much better than his fellow Notts seamers. Will he make a shock return to the Green and Gold? MAG

10/06

The Seconds were second best to Leicestershire 2s at Arundel [scorecard], out gunned by Nick Welch and Harry Swindells. Joey Evison top scored with just 29 for Notts. Joey is still not bowling and so I can't see him transitioning into the Outlaws first team until he's firing on all cylinders.

Leicestershire Foxes (firsts) lost at Derby last night, Shan Masood trying to do an Alex Hales, but his 73 off 32 was still enough to finish Foxes off. 

Foxes usually up their game when they play Notts, but Outlaws playing "reasonably well" [words of DC] ought to be able to match them, you would hope.

TrentBridge.co.uk has gone all Test Match so spotting a squad for tonight could be easily missed on social media. I'd expect the same squad but hoping for the odd surprise.

09/06

Notts Seconds have somehow managed to reach T20 Finals Day (at Arundel Castle) with just four wins. Players not in the eleven for their semi-final include: Ben Slater, Haseeb Hameed, LPW and Lyndon James, whilst both Joey Evison and Sol Budinger are included. Do these omissions have any bearing on team selection for the First XI on Friday, or are those four getting back into Championship mode ready for Sunday?

08/06

At the time I start writing this, Outlaws are 6th in the North Group, two points behind fourth and five off second. But we're not even half way through the series, I hear you cry, we can close those gaps! 

Yes we can, but we'll have to improve. While other teams have improved, or at least started doing their homework, Outlaws have stood still! 

I'm sure Peter would say that that isn't the case and that no laurels are being rest upon. But, the only game where we were convincing was the match at Derby last Friday and that was on the back of an Alex Hales return to form , but even on Friday, alarm bells still rang while we bowling before we enjoyed the Halestorm. 

Jake Ball is bowling in the power play and at the death but is still going for plenty (10.44 rpo), but is redeemable with the knowledge that he is picking up wickets (11 so far).

If we continue with three spinners, then who will fulfill the second death bowler role/ the second seam/pace bowler? The living legend, Fletch is going for 11.18, Dane P 10.00 and Patto, well he's not even in the top 50 bowlers, so I've not got his eco to hand. 

The gap left by Harry Gurney still hasn't been filled. The club didn't stop Luke Wood going to current table toppers Lancashire and Zak Chappell has been loaned-out to Gloucestershire where he's played just two Blast matches (eco 8.00), in his last outing his figures were 1-0-16-0 against Glamorgan. Zak's month is almost up at Bristol, so will it be extended or will the prodical son return to Grace Road on Friday? Not that Zak is ready to fill the void, yet.

Incidentally, Outlaws have only one in the top 50 batsman averages at present, that's DC (or should we be calling him Siri now), but his strike rate isn't eye-watering at 121.

So what needs to change?