Fun Runs in Leicester

 

Hopperational Details
Date & Venue	Sunday 14 August 2022 at Grace Road (The Uptonsteel County Ground)
Result	Leicestershire beat Warwickshire by 131 runs
Competition	Royal London One-Day Cup (50 overs per side) – Group Stage
Hopstats	My sixteenth cricket ground, and the first since 2019. I’ve now been to 13 of the main grounds of the 18 first-class counties, 12 if I don’t count Bristol which was an abandonment without a ball being bowled.
Context
Leicestershire start the game with a 3-1 win-loss record, and Warwickshire have two wins and a tie from their three games. So both sides will feel they have a good chance to progress further. The group stage of this competition takes place at the same time as The Hundred, so many of the “big names” are absent and these teams comprise squad players and up-and-coming youngsters. The ticket price was £1 (plus £1 online booking fee!) as part of a family fun day experience. I stayed in my seat to watch the game, but apparently this included live tarantulas in one of the outbuildings. There have clearly been developments in the concept of family fun since my active parenting days.
In One Sentence
Leicestershire won the toss and made the most of this to put an unassailable score on the board, and the match was over as a contest after about 20 overs of the Warwickshire reply.
So What?
Leicestershire have put themselves in a very good position and trail group leaders Middlesex only on run rate. Warwickshire are still in with a shout for qualification but clearly now have less room for error. The games come thick and fast and both are in action again on Wednesday. Leicester’s next game (20th) is billed as Ladies’ Day. This time the tickets will be £20, but well worth it especially if it also involves the tarantulas.
Match Report
Having lost the toss, Warwickshire’s bowlers initially appeared to be doing a good job at keeping the score down. There were only two boundaries in the ten-over powerplay, and that was a streaky edge by Rishi Patel. Liam Norwell and Olly Hannon-Darby shared the fast-bowling duties, and the latter had Patel caught in the tenth over so that the home side were 34-1 as the field moved out to the deep. Norwell stayed on in a spell of seven overs, getting the other opener Nick Welch caught behind from the first ball of the 11th over.    However, new batters Louis Kimber and Lewis Hill were able to accelerate against the change seamer George Garrett and later, spinner Krunel Pandya. The run rate was up to 5.00 by the end of the fifteenth. Warwickshire fielding was decent on a tricky, fast outfield. The innings grew with steady accumulation until the fireworks started. Kimber’s first six of the day dropped just over long-off’s head, in my general direction, followed immediately by a four. Warwickshire captain Will Rhodes replaced Norwell and was more miserly, and rewarded by an edge behind to end Hill’s innings. Wiann Mulder arrived at the crease and did not hang about, sending Rhodes to the boundary.   Lewis Kimber on his way to top score for Leicester. Norwell was recalled, presumably to try to break the developing partnership. He was greeted with a boundary by Kimber who reached his 50 from 44 balls, at 133-3. Kimber lofted Garrett over the leg side for a six, and Mulder was proving an excellent partner at the other end who reached his own half-century. Kimber scored two sixes off Pandya as the overall run-rate grew to 6.00. Pandya would have the consolation of the next three wickets. Kimber was well caught by a sub fielder, and Mulder was caught on the boundary, for 78 and 68 respectively.   Harry Swindells - the keeper keeping the scoreboard ticking over By the time Pandya took his third wicket in his final over, a good boundary catch by Dom Sibley to get Arron Lilley out for 33, Harry Swindells was moving through the scoring gears and a lofted four off Rhodes brought up the 300. His fifty came from 40 balls and new partner Tom Scriven joined the fun with a straight six. Garrett took the consolation wickets of both in the last over but it looked as if the damage had been done.   Leicestershire 338-6 (50.0 overs) (Kimber 78, Mulder 68, Swindells 54, Lilley 33, Scriven 30) (Pandya 10-0-69-3)   In the Warwickshire reply, Yates and Sibley got the scoreboard ticking at around 5 or 6 an over with a mix of playing-and-missing, edges and assured classy shots, and in fact they were ahead of Leicestershire’s rate of progress for a time until the wickets started to fall. This innings was to be a tale of several batters making a start but then getting out before a big score, and in the end the innings rather subsided in desperation. There had been hope for about 20 overs that the visitors might be able to match the hosts’ display. Sibley was perhaps unlucky to be c&b by Chris Wright and then Yates edged Mulder to the keeper, leaving Warwickshire at 44-2. Still not out of the game by any means, but with huge and increased pressure on Will Rhodes and Michael Burgess. The latter in particular took a few balls to get going. His first boundary was courtesy of a misfield, and then he hit the biggest straight six so far, bouncing off the top floor of building at the Bennett End. But Lewis Kimber got him out for 38, caught on the boundary. Scriven then bowled Rhodes for 30 in the next over, leaving the chasers on 119-4 after 21.4 overs with an growing feeling of game over. Image documentation failure but I think this is Will Rhodes Some of the families drifted away, the young tarantula fans getting tired and grumpy after a long hot day. The dwindling crowd were entertained by the final demise of the run chase, giving us the bonus of an early finish. Pandya and Lamb kept going at around six an over but the required rate climbed to eight. Lamb was run out by a sharp stop and throw by Hill and Pandya looped a top edge and was caught. Hill brought back opening bowler Beuran Hendricks who took the wickets of Kai Smith and Liam Norwell in quick succession. In the end, the last pair of Garrett and Hannon-Darby added twenty to get over the 200 line, but a final margin of 131 runs will look like a comprehensive thrashing in the record books. Wright took the final wicket of Garrett to add to the earlier scalps of Sibley and Pandya.   You know the end is near when the Duckworth-Lewis formula gives up on you Last-wicket resistance (is futile) by Olly Hannon-Darby Warwickshire 207 all out (39.2 overs) (Burgess 38, Rhodes 30) (Wright 8.2-0.29-3) Leicestershire (2pts) win by 131 runs.
The Ground
If you visit, be aware that there is a high proportion of open uncovered seating. With temperatures forecast to be in the three hundreds (Kelvin of course, what do you expect from a physicist?) I made sure I was there early to pick a shady spot, choosing the Bennett End. By the way, don’t expect to be able to park at the ground unless you are a wizard with Leicester heritage and a secret handshake. At least that is the impression that you get from the club website. I parked near the Aylestone Recreation Ground, about a fifteen-minute walk away in Knighton Lane East.   The old-school scoreboard partly obscured for me by the floodlight support, showing how cricket grounds have adapted in the last few decades.
What Next?
Follow @GrahamYapp on Twitter! Family commitments take priority until the end of the month, when I am signed up for the Welsh Hop for the first time.