Unbeaten Cobb steers Leicestershire to victory
Josh Cobb blazed his way to a career-best 91 not out to fire Leicestershire Foxes to only their second victory of the season in the Clydesdale Bank 40 and put a dent in Northamptonshire Steelbacks' hopes of reaching the semi-finals
ESPNcricinfo staff
24-Jul-2011
Josh Cobb blazed his way to a career-best 91 not out to fire Leicestershire
Foxes to only their second victory of the season in the Clydesdale Bank 40 and
put a dent in Northamptonshire Steelbacks' hopes of reaching the semi-finals.
The Foxes' 20-year-old opener blasted two sixes and nine fours in his 88-ball
innings as Leicestershire raced to a five-wicket win, reaching their target of
207 with 9.2 overs to spare.
Half-centuries from Stephen Peters and Andrew Hall helped the Steelbacks to a
total of 206 for six after they had been put into bat. But with Cobb in such blistering form it proved nowhere near enough.
The home side put down a marker in the first few overs of their innings - Cobb
and Andrew McDonald putting on 58 in the first six. The second over from Hall
went for 31 runs with two no-balls added to a six and five fours that came from
the bat of McDonald.
The Australian all-rounder finally fell to a catch in the deep off the bowling
of Lee Daggett for 35 but, by the end of the eight power-play overs, the Foxes
had reached 83 for two compared to the Steelbacks' 36 for two at the same
stage. From that point on the Foxes were in complete command and they made light work
of the victory charge with Cobb dominating the Northamptonshire attack.
He struck the ball superbly on both sides of the wicket, hitting sixes off
Chaminda Vaas and David Willey, in addition to numerous other boundaries that
flew through the gaps in the field.
Although Will Jefferson, Jacques du Toit and Wayne White fell cheaply to leave
the Foxes on 138 for four in the 16th over it proved just a brief respite for
the Steelbacks.
Cobb and Matt Boyce (28) shared a fifth-wicket stand of 66 in 14 overs that
took the home side to the brink of victory before Boyce skied a catch off James
Middlebrook.
Cobb sealed the win with another cracking boundary to go past his previous best
one-day score of 87 against Durham in the same competition earlier in the
season.
Peters, with 63 off 90 balls, and Hall, who made 67 off 81, provided the
backbone to a disappointing Steelbacks innings. The visitors never recovered
from a poor start when Foxes seamer Nadeem Malik took three for 18 in his first
six overs. Only a stand of 91 between Peters and Hall gave the innings any substance, but
in the end it was well below what was required.
Having won their first five games in the competition the Steelbacks have now
lost two in succession and face a real battle to reach the last four.
