Leicestershire v Kent: Friends Life Twenty20 – 1st Quarter-Final – Kent’s Innings
Leicestershire edged to victory in a thrilling Quarter-Final clash of the Friends Life Twenty20 against Kent by three wickets and four balls remaining, at the Grace Road, Leicester in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013 on Saturday, August 6, 2011.
The hosts needed 204 runs for victory, which they achieved in the final over of the innings. The star performer for the team was their skipper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Andrew-McDonald-c1042 who collected 53 runs at the top of the order.
Earlier, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Azhar-Mahmood-c1116 was the top scorer of the innings and the match with 91 runs.
The stylish all-rounder missed out on a century by just nine runs in the end, but ending up on the losing side would have hurt him more than anything.
Toss was won by the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Leicestershire-c807 captain, who decided to field first. The decision seemed to be a strange one, as the pitch was very good for the batsmen. It was hard and dry and a high scoring game was predicted.
However, McDonald expected the batsmen to struggle a bit in the first few overs of the game. He also thought that the toss would not make much of a difference, as the pitch would remain consistent until the end of the game.
Kent’s regular pair of openers http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Robert-Key-c2349 walked out in the middle to start the proceedings of the first Quarter-Final game of the tournament.
However, the start was not an ideal one for the visitors, as they lost one batsmen early. Denly failed to make most of the excellent batting conditions, getting out after adding 6 runs to the total. He was dismissed on the first ball of the third over, putting
his side under immense pressure.
This brought Mahmood at the crease, who has been batting consistently well at the number three position for Kent in the shortest format of the game. He played aggressively from the start of his innings and collected a solid half-century partnership with
his skipper.
Key was unable to carry onto the start he got to his innings and was the second wicket to fall in the visitors’ innings. He batted steadily for his 28 runs off 30 deliveries with the help of two fours and one towering six.
The fall of wicket did not bother the Kent team, as Mahmood and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Martin-van-Jaarsveld-c74944 clobbered the bowlers to all parts of the park. The pair put together a magnificent third wicket stand of 130 runs, guiding the team’s total to 196.
Mahmood was the final wicket to fall in the innings. He got out for 91 runs off 52 balls, hammering nine fours and four thunderous sixes.
However, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Graham-Robert-Cowdrey-c60631 Jaarsveld remained unbeaten on a brilliant knock of 63 runs from 32 deliveries with the help of nine fours and one massive six.
Leicestershire’s http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Abdul-Razzaq-c41623 picked up one wicket each in the innings.
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