Half a Ton
Leicestershire CC2 Damp Squib
Half a Ton
By Grockle
June 26 2004
It's sad when you come home after being away for half a week and see the ground closed and assume we've lost!! Thankfully we hadn't although it could have been interesting if the rain had stayed off, even with the loss of Day 1. A bit of a non event in many ways but NOT a loss!
Half a Ton
June 26 2004
It's sad when you come home after being away for half a week and see the ground closed and assume we've lost!! Thankfully we hadn't although it could have been interesting if the rain had stayed off, even with the loss of Day 1. A bit of a non event in many ways but NOT a loss!
v Leicestershire CC2 @ Taunton 23 June 2004
So, we lose the whole of the first day to rain, we go in without a spinner (presumably because of the weather forcast for the rest of the day) - I can't include John Francis in that category at the moment because he is an inexperienced purveyor of the noble art. We welcome him back as an opener though along with Matt Wood at number 6 and Aaron Laraman at 7 and Nixon at 11. Leicester come with a side of allsorts - EU purchases, veteran seamers, forgotten England men - it is all a bit strange really.
The Foxes won the toss and decided to bat, then waited around for about 24 hours to get the chance. Once they did get out there on Day 2, it all looked very promising for them with a 158 partnership between Darren Maddy (opening allrounder/first change bowler person) and Robinson. Mclean broke that up and put the brakes on and the visitors found themselves suddenly at 167 for 3 with the West Indian dispatching both openers and Caddick ensuring that Hodge's stay at the wicket was short!
Wickets fell in clumps but once we had got rid of Gibson, we seem to have come up against the bane of our CC season - the tail end fightback. At 277 for 7, one would have expected under 350 but 52 from Henderson at number 9 and 31 from Cleary (number 10) put the final count over 400 when they declared. God knows what Dagnell, their number 11, would have done to us!
Nixon returned 4 for 100 but both Caddick (1 for 103) and Francis S (2 for 118) trundled away manfully but didn't take the quantity within the timeframe needed. It was good to see AL get a wicket (1 for 74).
88 overs in, could we make this intoo a game with a big score and them in and out without reaching it? Nice idea and it must have been on the minds of Somerset when Bowler and Francis J opened with a partnership of 99 before PB was LBW to Cleary. Unfortunately, the next four batsmen only added 71 between them and other than the 52 of John Francis, it all became a bit turgid and haphazard. Matt Wood seems to have tried to hold the innings together, firstly with Mike Burns and then with Rob Turner (37) after he got hit in the chest and had to be rushed to hospitall suffering from breathing problems. He did come back out to bat but Cleary had taken 5 for 50 and the wickets had kept going regularly - including Rob's after the addition of 4. Wood was left holding the baby on 33 and we were all out for 262 with a day and a bit to go. A mere 140 behind.
And that was it really, Robinson went early to Nixon and Maddy made another 50 without defeat, Caddick got a wicket in the time allowed on the last day but there were only 26 overs bowled in the second innings before the weather took over and the game petered out. We draw and we take the smaller share of the bonus points. Not sure what would have happened if we'd had a full day...we'll never know will we!
On to Durham tomorrow and a lack of D/L calculations please!
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