REPORT | Falcons beaten in T20 opener

A half-century from Martin Andersson wasn’t enough, as the Falcons tasted defeat in their Vitality Blast opener against Leicestershire Foxes. 

The Falcons totalled 170 for six thanks to a sixth-wicket stand of 76 in 52 balls from Martin Andersson (70 not out, 46 balls) and Ross Whiteley (37, 27). That represented a strong recovery from 11 for three and early damage inflicted by Logan van Beek (three for 37)

But Budinger’s thunderous 51 (17) at the top of the Foxes’ reply and Shan Masood measured unbeaten 45 (35) at the other end of it saw them to 171 for five with eight balls to spare.

The Foxes chose to bowl and, despite a heavily depleted attack with Lions pair Josh Hull and Reham Ahmed among the absentees, reduced the Falcons to 51 for five after eight overs. Van Beek unfurled two superb deliveries to remove two of big dangers; a big inswinger took Caleb Jewell’s edge through to wicketkeeper Ben Cox and a yorker took out Wayne Madsen’s off-stump.

Aneurin Donald and David Lloyd failed to clear the field with attempted big hits and when Samit Patel chipped Liam Trevaskis to mid off, half the Falcons were out with 12 overs remaining.

Andersson and Whiteley responded with composed and selective aggression to pull their side back into the game. Andersson reached his third T20 fifth (from 37 balls) and Whiteley struck a six and three fours before lifting Van Beek to fine leg. Zak Chappell lent Andersson further support in a punchy unbeaten stand of 43 in the last 20 balls.

The Foxes’ reply started at a gallop with 16 from the first over by Afghanistan spinner Allah Ghazanfar, on his debut. Budinger smote six fours and four sixes, taking 29 from a Pat Brown over, on his way to the fastest Blast fifty by a Foxes batter, and when he was brilliantly caught by Lloyd at mid off off Andersson, the home side had 73 on the board from 29 balls.

The Falcons didn’t panic though and Ghazanfar showed his class by turning the ball into the stumps of Louis Kimber and Rishi Patel (27, 20). When Patel had Lewis Hill caught at deep mid-wicket, three wickets had fallen for 12 runs in 20 balls.

Highly experienced pair Masood and Ben Cox were unfazed by the switch in momentum and simply switched it back again with a stand of 44 in 32 balls. Masood, on his Blast debut for the Foxes, swung Brown far over mid-wicket into the crowd, the speeding ball narrowly missing Christian and Bettina, two distinguished German visitors attending their first ever cricket match.

Cox was bowled by Lloyd but Masood saw the Foxes home with exactly the win-clinching unflustered skill and nous for which he was signed.

Falcons all-rounder Martin Andersson said: “It’s always frustrating to lose because you always want to get off to a flying start and we are very confident in the squad we have. From the position we were in we managed to get up to a competitive score. I was pleased to score some runs.  It’s nice when you have a game plan and it works out well.

“If you look at the swing in the game, We were 39 for four and they were 84 for one. That’s a 45-run swing in a medium scoring game.

“We spoke about it after the game. They adapted their bowling to the pitch and we didn’t adapt as a batting unit and that decided the game really.”