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- Jan 13, 2010
Article by Christopher Finch -
An unbeaten 81 from James Taylor helped Leicestershire to a 32 run win over Scotland at Grace Road, in a result that goes some way to avenging the two defeats the Foxes suffered at the hands of the Saltires in last year?s CB40.
For Scotland, this tournament provides a chance to show they deserve a place along with the other associate nations at the World Cup, following the ICC?s decision to exclude the minnows from the 2015 tournament. They are guaranteed 12 fixtures against other counties over the course of the season, and this should provide their young squad with vital experience at a good level, and the chance to cause a few upsets along the way.
The first half of the CB40 builds up to the highlight of their season in July, a triangular one-day international series with Ireland and Sri Lanka, while they also take on fellow CB40 participants Netherlands in an ICC Intercontinental Cup fixture and Twenty20 series in June.
They are bolstered for this tournament by the signing of overseas player Luke Butterworth, who was the leading wicket-taker in this past winter?s Sheffield Shield for Tasmania, and Josh Davey, who has been loaned out by his county Middlesex to the country of his birth.
Both sides remained unchanged from their defeats in yesterday?s fixtures. The Foxes were hammered by Northamptonshire, while the Saltires fell to Durham by five wickets.
After being put in by the visitors, openers Jacques du Toit and Josh Cobb got the Foxes off to an aggressive start, punishing anything short from the Scottish bowlers. After the standard procedure of the bowling powerplay being taken straight after the mandatory one, the score looked healthy at 75-0.
Surprisingly the batting powerplay was then taken right away, and this proved the downfall of du Toit. He smashed a low full toss off Gordon Drummond straight down the throat of Preston Mommsen at long-on for 39.
Cobb reached his first one-day 50 with a boundary through the covers, but perished in almost exactly the same way as his opening partner. This time it was a short ball from Drummond that was hit straight down the throat of Mommsen.
This brought the veteran Paul Nixon to the crease alongside England hopeful Taylor, fresh off a double century against Loughborough University last week. They rotated the strike well, playing risk-free shots, and keeping the run-rate hovering around a run a ball.
Nixon became the third batsman to fall at long-on, chipping to Butterworth off Davey for 45 in the 33rd over, with the score at 191-3.
17-year-old Shiv Thakor replaced him, and he launched a giant six over midwicket before being bowled by Davey the following over.
But the top prospect Taylor was the star of the show. Despite only hitting four boundaries, one of which was a perfectly execute Dill-scoop over the wicketkeepers? head, his sensible 76-ball 81 not out helped propel the Foxes to a challenging total of 253-4.
The Scots response started poorly, with both openers Gregor Maiden and Ryan Flannigan edging behind to Tom New off Nathan Buck and Nadeem Malik respectively.
Davey was going along well before being caught at fine leg for 23, leaving the recovery down to Ewan Chalmers and Richie Berrington. They put on 63, but meandered along, showing little urgency as the required run rate increased.
Berrington was unlucky to be given out lbw to Claude Henderson for 31. He attempted a reverse sweep, but the ball struck his gloves before hitting the pads.
Chalmers fell two overs later after bringing up his 50 off 66 balls. He ran down the track at Henderson but missed, and was stumped down the leg side by New. With the score at 128-5 with 13 overs to go, that all but sealed the game for Leicestershire.
The lower order did provide some resistance though, and refused to roll over. Butterworth hit a quickfire 24, and Drummond smashed 25 off only 18 balls, but it was all to no avail as the innings closed at 221-9, with the Foxes sealing a comfortable 32-run victory.
On the day their associate rivals Netherlands went top of Group A in the CB40, this match showed the Scots still have work to do to regularly challenge the English counties, let alone the international elite at the World Cup.
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An unbeaten 81 from James Taylor helped Leicestershire to a 32 run win over Scotland at Grace Road, in a result that goes some way to avenging the two defeats the Foxes suffered at the hands of the Saltires in last year?s CB40.
For Scotland, this tournament provides a chance to show they deserve a place along with the other associate nations at the World Cup, following the ICC?s decision to exclude the minnows from the 2015 tournament. They are guaranteed 12 fixtures against other counties over the course of the season, and this should provide their young squad with vital experience at a good level, and the chance to cause a few upsets along the way.
The first half of the CB40 builds up to the highlight of their season in July, a triangular one-day international series with Ireland and Sri Lanka, while they also take on fellow CB40 participants Netherlands in an ICC Intercontinental Cup fixture and Twenty20 series in June.
They are bolstered for this tournament by the signing of overseas player Luke Butterworth, who was the leading wicket-taker in this past winter?s Sheffield Shield for Tasmania, and Josh Davey, who has been loaned out by his county Middlesex to the country of his birth.
Both sides remained unchanged from their defeats in yesterday?s fixtures. The Foxes were hammered by Northamptonshire, while the Saltires fell to Durham by five wickets.
After being put in by the visitors, openers Jacques du Toit and Josh Cobb got the Foxes off to an aggressive start, punishing anything short from the Scottish bowlers. After the standard procedure of the bowling powerplay being taken straight after the mandatory one, the score looked healthy at 75-0.
Surprisingly the batting powerplay was then taken right away, and this proved the downfall of du Toit. He smashed a low full toss off Gordon Drummond straight down the throat of Preston Mommsen at long-on for 39.
Cobb reached his first one-day 50 with a boundary through the covers, but perished in almost exactly the same way as his opening partner. This time it was a short ball from Drummond that was hit straight down the throat of Mommsen.
This brought the veteran Paul Nixon to the crease alongside England hopeful Taylor, fresh off a double century against Loughborough University last week. They rotated the strike well, playing risk-free shots, and keeping the run-rate hovering around a run a ball.
Nixon became the third batsman to fall at long-on, chipping to Butterworth off Davey for 45 in the 33rd over, with the score at 191-3.
17-year-old Shiv Thakor replaced him, and he launched a giant six over midwicket before being bowled by Davey the following over.
But the top prospect Taylor was the star of the show. Despite only hitting four boundaries, one of which was a perfectly execute Dill-scoop over the wicketkeepers? head, his sensible 76-ball 81 not out helped propel the Foxes to a challenging total of 253-4.
The Scots response started poorly, with both openers Gregor Maiden and Ryan Flannigan edging behind to Tom New off Nathan Buck and Nadeem Malik respectively.
Davey was going along well before being caught at fine leg for 23, leaving the recovery down to Ewan Chalmers and Richie Berrington. They put on 63, but meandered along, showing little urgency as the required run rate increased.
Berrington was unlucky to be given out lbw to Claude Henderson for 31. He attempted a reverse sweep, but the ball struck his gloves before hitting the pads.
Chalmers fell two overs later after bringing up his 50 off 66 balls. He ran down the track at Henderson but missed, and was stumped down the leg side by New. With the score at 128-5 with 13 overs to go, that all but sealed the game for Leicestershire.
The lower order did provide some resistance though, and refused to roll over. Butterworth hit a quickfire 24, and Drummond smashed 25 off only 18 balls, but it was all to no avail as the innings closed at 221-9, with the Foxes sealing a comfortable 32-run victory.
On the day their associate rivals Netherlands went top of Group A in the CB40, this match showed the Scots still have work to do to regularly challenge the English counties, let alone the international elite at the World Cup.
More...
