Foxes Fighting Spirit
Source -
thisisleicestershire.co.uk
Leicestershire Foxes' captain Jeremy Snape believes his side's stomach for the fight has put them on the brink of reaching this season's Twenty20 Cup quarter-finals.
The 21-run victory over Yorkshire Phoenix on Saturday was the Foxes' third in succession and, coupled with Nottinghamshire's defeat by Lancashire yesterday, left them joint-top in the Northern Division with just tonights visit to Durham to come.
Leicestershire may not have been in spectacular form in posting those three victories, but their cricket has been highly effective with both HD Ackerman and Paul Nixon in fine form with thebat.
'We haven't played the perfect game yet, we know that and we are still striving for it,' said Snape. 'But we are scrapping and finding ways to win.
'If you can engineer results in those positions, that gives you resilience and you build up a bank account of confidence.'
A rib injury ruled out Dinesh Mongia on Saturday, so Claude Henderson stepped in to give the Foxes an added spin option in the Indian's absence.
Leicestershire have not been afraid tomake changes through the current campaign and, largely, they have worked out.
'What we have done over the last four or five games is shuffle things around to find the best blend of the players we have available,' said Snape.
'We now have Jimmy Allenby bowling at the end with Adam Griffith splitting his overs. We think that gives us a bit more at the death.'
Victory over Durham, who were convincingly beaten at Grace Road on Friday, would almost certainly give the Foxes a home quarter-final tie.
That, though, would be dependent on other results and Snape first of all wants to ensure that his side complete the group phases with another win.
He knows it will be far from straight forward, even with Durham out of the running for the last eight.
'We set out at the start of the competition to get a home quarter-final and that is still the aim,' he said.
'Durham are a difficult side to beat at the Riverside. They are very passionate about their sport in the NorthEast andthey will have a good crowd there.'
Mongia, who was struck in the ribs by a short ball from Graham Onions when the sides met three days ago, is the only injury worry for Leicestershire.
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