Lilley’s 66 puts Foxes on the scent of victory over Outlaws
Leicestershire batsman hits 22-ball half century Early loss of Hales and Duckett slows Notts
Arron Lilley helped Leicestershire Foxes record their first Vitality Blast win of the season in a rain-reduced match against Nottinghamshire Outlaws at Trent Bridge yesterday.
Lilley scored 66 from only 30 balls, hitting 10 fours and two sixes, as his side reached 125 for three after the contest had been reduced to 11 overs per side. The 28-year-old reached his first T20 half century from only 22 balls and added 86 with Mark Cosgrove, who scored an unbeaten 37, from only seven overs.
The Outlaws lost Alex Hales and Ben Duckett with just 20 runs on the board and could only muster 104 for six, with Tom Moores making an unbeaten 44, leaving the Foxes as victors by 21 runs.
Gavin Griffiths collected figures of two for 22 for the visitors, the best return of the day.
When play did eventually begin, after a delay of two hours and 15 minutes, Harry Swindells was pinned lbw by Luke Wood for a first-ball duck.
Lilley hit Imad Wasim for three consecutive boundaries in the second over and Cosgrove also unleashed three more in the next, bowled by Harry Gurney.
Building on their early momentum the Foxes’ duo raced to a 50 partnership from only 25 balls, reached when Cosgrove hit Luke Fletcher over square leg for the first six of the match.
The seventh over, bowled by Jake Ball, went for 19, with Lilley finding the ropes on four separate occasions. Wasim, on his home debut, forced the eventual mistake from Lilley, with wicketkeeper Moores taking the swirling catch. Colin Ackermann hit 18 from 12 balls, supporting Cosgrove in a stand of 33 from 20 balls.
Duckett and Hales departed within four balls of each other at the start of the reply and wickets continued to tumble as the desperate search for runs became more and more frantic.
Joe Clarke was caught behind and Dan Christian, who had won the toss and opted to bowl first, fell to a catch in the deep by Dieter Klein.
The final over began with Nottinghamshire still requiring 40. Moores threw the bat in style and finished with five sixes in his 19-ball knock but the local bragging rights were already on their way back to Leicester.
Meanwhile, Gloucestershire suffered their third successive Vitality Blast washout at Chelmsford as their clash with Essex, yesterday’s other fixture, was abandoned without a ball being bowled following persistent rain.
The Bristol side have now not bowled a single ball in their last three trips to Essex in Twenty20 cricket, after similarly rain-affected matches in 2017 and 2018.