Leicstershire Foxes Metro Bank S/F at Grace Road Loss Report

 

ONE MATCH, ONE MISHAP TOO FAR FOR HAMEED AND HIS MEN

A tired Notts team, playing their fourth game in nine days, fell to a 23-run defeat at Grace Road today. The well rested Foxes, who remember won the group and deserve an advantage, playing their first game in a week made hay against an increasingly wayward Notts seam bowling attack to record an above par 303 for 7. Their hero was 20-year-old right hander Hamza Shaikh, signed from Warwickshire, who scored a 109 ball 104 (7x4, 2x6) – a joint List A best. Notts fell away after a encouraging start with no batsmen going on to play a match winning innings. Top scorer was Freddie McCann (64 off 83 balls, 6x4, 1x6).

Notts won the toss and inserted the Foxes in front of a disappointing crowd of around 2,000. Other than the long term injured Sol Budinger, Leicestershire were at full strength with two overseas players in their team and they also included Rehan Ahmed in the Eleven after being an ever present for Birmingham Phoenix. Notts elected not to include Joe Clarke but had Patterson-White returning for the injured Lyndon James. Ben Slater made his comeback for Chesterfield CC yesterday and is hopeful of playing in the championship encounter versus Surrey starting at The Oval on Sunday.

Hutton (Pavilion End) and Pennington opened the bowling with the Foxes getting off to a steady start. Rishi Patel hit Pennington for six over long leg; 12 off the 4th over. In the following over, Hutton got a delivery to move and bowled Rishi Patel (14) - the bail being broken, 19 for 1 in the 5th over. Pennington bowled 4 overs for 22 during his opening spell, being replaced by Stone for the 10th over. Both bowlers never really found a consistent line and length throughout the fixture. Leicestershire 48 for 1 off 10 overs.

Patterson-White came on for the 11th over and had Eskinazi (14) stumped by Verreynne; 50 for 2 off 11 overs. Rehan hit Stone for a six over mid-wicket in the 12th over. Rehan (31) mis hit an attempted shot over cow corner and Patterson-White took the steepler at mid-on, 64 for 3 off 14 overs. Farhan came on for the 18th over. Kelly was dropped on 10 a return catch low down to bowler Patterson-White in the 19th over. Patterson-White was causing trouble to the left hander but Hameed elected to take him off despite bowling six overs for 13. McCann replaced him for the 23rd over. Leicestershire 99 for 3 off 25 overs. Some indifferent bowling allowed them to add 204 off the remaining 25 overs.

Kelly hit McCann (4-0-20-0) for a straight six; 10 plus a leg bye off the 27th over. Farhan bowled 6 overs for 26 before being replaced by Pennington for the 30th over. Farhan immediately changed ends. Pennington bowled a single over and was replaced by Stone. Pennington came back for the 35th over, Kelly hitting him for 6 over long off. He then bowled five wides down the legside, 16 off the over. Shaikh got to 50 off 72 balls with a fortuitous two off Stone, the ball going to Pennington at long leg on the half volley and hitting him in the face. Kelly got to his 50 in 66 balls with a four through square leg off Pennington.  Kelly (53) was dropped on 52 lowdown by Farhan at mid-off Pennington in the 37th over. But he departed later in the same over, attempting to pull a slower ball from Pennington, he played on. Leicestershire 181 for 4 in the 37th over. Hutton returned in the 38th over. Farhan  and Patterson-White came on for the 39th and 40th overs respectively.  Shaikh hit Patterson-White for six over mid-wicket; 12 off the over. Leicestershire 200 for 4 after 40 overs. The bowling was getting increasingly ragged and Leicestershire added a further 103 off the last 10 overs.

Farhan (10 0 50 0) conceded 14 off his last over – two boundaries to Shaikh and one to Cox. Hutton (7-0-38-1) came back for the 42nd over and went for 10. Patterson-White changed to the Pavilion End and went for 9 in the 43rd over. Shaikh reached an impressive 100 off 105 balls hitting a long hop from Stone for six over square leg, 11 off the 44th over. Cox hit Patterson-White for a straight six. Shaikh (104) on the charge was bowled by Patterson-White, 254 for 5; 10 off the 45th over. Cox (22) was caught by McCann on the square leg ropes, 260 for 6 in the 46th over. Patterson-White (10 0 52 2) went for 10 off the 47th over and conceded 39 off his last four overs having bowled so well earlier. Holland on 11 was dropped by Patterson-White off Stone running in from mid-on, 9 off the 48th over. Ben Green was caught by McCann at long on off Pennington (9 0 65 3),  281 for 7. Eleven off the 49th over. Stone (10-0-68-1) went for 12 off the last over. Leicestershire 303 for 7 off 50 overs with Holland on 29 and Scriven on 6. A total probably 30 over par the Notts seamers guilty of bowling too wide and too short too often. In mitigation this was Notts’ seventh match away from Trent Bridge in 17 days – all but one (Farington) played in intense heat.

Notts got off to a fast start. Martindale hit two fours off the opening over bowled by Ben Green (Pavilion End). Martindale hit Ben Green for three successive boundaries,  15 off the 5th over. McCann hit Ben Green (4-0-33-0) for a six over long on in the 7th over. He did not bowl again. Scriven came on for the 9th over. Notts 60 for 0 off 10 overs.

Notts slowed down considerably. In the 12th over, Rehan dismissed Martindale (43) lbw with his first delivery, 63 for 1. A wicket maiden for Rehan. Scriven and Rehan kept it tight only 22 runs coming off 7 overs. Alex Green replaced Rehan for the 18th over and conceded seven. Ajaz Patel came on for the 19th over and conceded just a single. Munsey (7) who looked out of sorts throughout his 29-ball innings eventually drove Alex Green straight to Holland at mid-on, 92 for 2 in the 20th over.

Notts got to 100 in the 22nd over via an edged four from McCann. Hameed and McCann then started to put bat to ball as Notts fought back.

Ajaz Patel went for 11 in the 23rd over - boundaries for McCann and Hameed. Hameed hit Alex Green for six over square leg, 10 off the 24th over. McCann reached a somewhat scratchy 50 off 70 balls. Notts 125 for 2 off 25 overs.

Rehan returned for the 26th over and went for 11. Ajaz Patel went for nine in the 27th over. There was a stoppage when Cox was struck on the head by Hameed's bat off the last delivery of the 28th over. Dead ball was called with Tattersall taking over behind the stumps. Notts 159 for 2 off 30 overs and ahead of the DLS par score.

Poor calling by the skipper

Then came the turning point with McCann (64) being run out off a free hit. Hameed hit Holland to mid-off where Eskinazi took the “catch”, Hameed settled for the single but McCann attempted the second run but failed to get back to his ground when he got sent back, 161 for 3 in the 31st over. The 3rd wicket partnership had added 69 in 11.4 overs.

Scriven came back for the 34th over. Ajaz went for 11 in the 35th over. Notts 187 for 3 off 35 overs. At this point Cox returned to the action.

Hameed got to his 50 off 44 balls with an offside two off Scriven. Hameed (54 off 47 balls, 5x4, 1x6) was caught behind by Cox off a Scriven delivery that got up, 193 for 4 in the 36th over. Hameed’s innings the most fluid by a Notts batsmen on the day.

Haynes (7) skied Scriven (9-0-35-2) to Holland at mid-off, 203 for 5 in the 38th over. Notts 213 for 5 off 40 overs needing 91.

Patterson-White provided Notts with brief momentum hitting Ajaz Patel (10 0 66 0) for six over long on, 10 off the 41st over. Alex Green returned for the 42nd over Patterson-White (20) pulling him for four through mid-wicket and two balls later cover driving him for four. He fell off the last delivery of the over caught on the square leg ropes by Shaikh off Alex Green, 234 for 6 off 42 overs. Patterson-White attempting to clear a very long boundary.

With 70 required off 8 overs, Notts needed a big hitter to bat alongside Verreynne. However Farhan was sent in and from this point Notts’ challenge slowly subsided as the 18-year-old has not at present got the strength to clear the infield.

Rehan bowled the 43rd over and conceded five. Holland went for 10 off the 44th over. Rehan went for seven off the 45th over. Notts needed 48 off 5 overs.

Holland then went for 8 – Farhan hitting him for 4 to long leg – the first time a boundary had been hit for 4 overs. Eight off the 46th over. Rehan (10 1 53 1) went for six off the 47th over. With an unlikely 34 required off three overs, Notts had to attack Alex Green (6-0-40-4), the only locally produced player in the Foxes line-up. Verreynne (43) who found the ropes just once in his 51-ball innings finally went for a big shot was caught on the square leg ropes by Rehan off Alex Green; 271 for 7. Farhan (with a List A best of 21) edged Alex Green for four but fell next ball caught at mid-on by Holland; 276 for 8, six off the 48th over. Green just 19 ending with 6-0-40-4 and fittingly in this developmental competition that the Foxes two best performers were their two youngest players.

Pennington (1) was caught on the mid-wicket ropes by Shaikh off Holland; 278 for 9. Hutton (1) was the last man to fall caught by Rishi Patel at short third man off Holland (10-0-49-2). Notts 280 all out off 49 overs had lost by 23 runs. The Leicestershire seamers had bowled more accurately and had pitch the ball up. The home side fully deserving their victory. Notts will rue their poor performance in the second half of the Foxes innings and the daft McCann run out.

A sad end to Notts’ 50 over tournament having been crippled by Hundred call ups and injuries to four key players – Slater, Haynes, Pocklington and Lord and not having the luxury of a second overseas player for most of the competition. They did extremely well in the circumstances to get to the last four in what is still a highly enjoyable but a very lop-sided tournament caused by a competition no true cricket fan has any time for! Hundred over cricket will undoubtedly outlast the inane circus “entertainment” that it sits alongside. MAG

Squad

Ben Martindale
Freddie McCann
George Munsey

Jack Haynes
Haseeb Hameed c
Kyle Verreynne x
Liam Patterson-White
Sam Seecharan
Byron Hatton-Lowe
Farhan Ahmed
Brett Hutton
Dillon Pennington
James Hayes
Olly Stone
Tom Giles

At breakneck speed quarter final becomes semi-final, no time to breath, not time to reflect, but hey we must stick to the H*ndred schedule.

The togetherness of the squad has got us to this point, so there's no reason to dilute it with incomers now, even if the prize is a final at Trent Bridge.

Liam in for Lyndon would be the obvious order from The General.

I doubt Foxes will be a same ramshackle, bumbling, dis-spirited dis-united bunch as the team that played us in the group stages....

so it's a clean slate, go again, knock-out cricket!