Ahmed shines with bat as Leics draw with Northants
Leicestershire and England all-rounder Rehan Ahmed chalked up his fourth first-class fifty but fell 15 runs shy of a second ton
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Vitality County Championship Division Two, UptonSteel County Ground, Leicester (day four)
Northamptonshire 453-7 dec: Bartlett 126*, Gay 88, Procter 64; Ahmed 2-64
Leicestershire 452-8: Handscomb 99, Ahmed 85, Kimber 65, Scriven 54*; Sanderson 4-92
Leicestershire (15pts) drew with Northants (15pts)
England all-rounder Rehan Ahmed and Australian Test batter Peter Handscomb helped Leicestershire snuff out Northamptonshire’s hopes of bowling themselves to victory.
Leicestershire replied to Northamptonshire’s first-innings 453-7 declared with 452-8 declared in a Division Two contest ruined by the weather.
Handscomb missed out on a 23rd career first-class century after being run out for 99, and Ahmed made 85 as the two sides claimed 15 points each.
George Scrimshaw took his first two wickets since moving from Derbyshire to Wantage Road, and veteran seamer Ben Sanderson (4-92) raised his wickets tally for Northamptonshire to 500 in all senior formats.
Scrimshaw struck with his second delivery, pushing Lewis Hill back in his crease to win an lbw verdict, before having Louis Kimber caught behind defending off a thin outside edge.
But Northamptonshire were not able to turn the screw as Handscomb passed 50 from 54 balls with his ninth boundary.
Ahmed was soon adding to the flow of boundaries and completed his half-century from 59 balls with seven fours, marking the achievement with a six over deep midwicket off Saif Zaib’s left-arm spin.
Both looked good for hundreds, but Ahmed perished 15 runs short, attempting to loft Sanderson over mid-on and giving Scrimshaw an easy catch.
Sanderson struck again two balls later as new man Ben Cox edged to Emilio Gay at second slip.
Handscomb paid the price for a lack of patience when, chancing a single off Zaib that was clearly high risk, he was beaten to the non-striker’s end by Karun Nair’s direct hit from short midwicket.
Sanderson reached his 500 milestone by having Ben Green caught at first slip.
However, more positive batting from all-rounders Scott Currie (44 not out) and Tom Scriven (54 not out) added an unbroken 92 for the ninth wicket to seal maximum batting points with 11 balls to spare before handshakes were offered on the draw.
Report supplied by the ECB Reporters' Network.