NSW SpeedBlitz Blues and Australia batsman David Warner
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Australia began the VB Tour of the British Isles with a convincing 102 run victory (D/L method) in their warm up match against Leicestershire overnight (June 21).
Sent into bat in overcast conditions, Leicestershire were looking to impress against an Australian line-up without Peter Forrest, Brett Lee, Pat Cummins and Ben Hilfenhaus, who were all sitting out for the opening match.
Leicestershire came into the match with a modest record so far this season, winless in the Limited 40 over and T20 competition from nine games with just the one victory from nine matches in the County Championship.
David Warner (74 retired out) and Matthew Wade (32) opened the batting and split the field often in their stand of 69. Shane Watson was dismissed early for one trying to clear midwicket before a short rain delay which led to a reduction in the amount of overs in the match. After the short break, Michael Clarke paddled his way to 29 before being bowled slogging at one.
The rest of the Australian batsman remained busy and kept the scoreboard ticking over, David Hussey (37), George Bailey (21), Steven Smith (11), Mitchell Johnson (21no) and Pattinson (7no) all contributing a total of 8/241 from their reduced 41 overs.
More rain delays saw Leicestershire’s target revised to 256 off 41 overs, then again to 239 off 36 overs. Despite the interruptions, the Australian bowling attack took no time adjusting to the English conditions.
Pattinson looked dangerous with the new ball claiming 2/27 whilst Shane Watson had the ball nipping around to claim 2/14 off three overs before being pulled from the attack. The pick of the bowlers was Clint McKay, who made use of his well-disguised slower ball to claim 4/31 whilst Clarke took 1/3 and Steve Smith 0/4 from just the one over.
With wickets falling regularly, Leicestershire never looked in it, and were all out for 136 from 29.4 overs, still 102 runs short of victory.
Scorecard: http://livescores.cricket.com.au/scoreboard_2744_1.html
Australia will next take on Ireland on Saturday (23rd June 2012) and then Essex on Tuesday (26th June 2012) before beginning their first of five ODIs against England starting on the 29th June 2012.