Foxes and Steelbacks suffer washout
Fri 12 May 2017
Royal London One-Day Cup Matchday 6: Leicestershire Foxes v Northants Steelbacks
RESULT | Match abandoned, Leicestershire Foxes and Northants Steelbacks 1 point each
REPORT | Leicestershire Foxes and Northants Steelbacks had to settle for a point apiece after their Royal London One-Day Cup game was abandoned at the Fischer County Ground.
Richard Levi and Rob Newton posted unbeaten fifties as the Steelbacks moved to 121-1 in the 16.5 overs of play that were possible before heavy and persistent rain brought about an early conclusion.
The result moved Leicestershire to five points from six matches, so the team sit two points outside the third qualification place currently occupied by Durham Jets.
The Foxes made one adjustment to the side that lost at Notts Outlaws as James Sykes replaced fellow spinner Rob Sayer, who picked up a hand injury at Welbeck.
Left arm paceman Dieter Klein gave the Foxes the perfect start, bowling England international Ben Duckett (0) with a beauty of an in-swinger in the opening over before Newton and Levi recorded a 50 partnership in as many deliveries.
Levi (59*, 47b) imposed himself on the Foxes with a number of cuts and drives to the boundary early on, while he and Newton lofted the slow left arm of Sykes to collect a maximum apiece over mid-on in the sixth over.
The right-handed Newton (55*, 54b) struck Sykes for a couple of nice drives over mid-off and extra but was dropped between those fours, Tom Wells failing to hold on to a sharp chance at slip. It was a moment of misfortune for Sykes, who did a tidy job opening the bowling for the Foxes.
Both batsmen started to manouevre the ball through the on-side, including a pick-up for six by Levi over square-leg that took him through to a 38-ball half-century (7x4, 2x6).
The players then left the field just before 3pm due to a heavy downpour with the score at 95-1 after 13.3 overs. Play did not resume until 5.15pm with the match reduced to 36 overs per side at that stage.
Only 20 more legitimate deliveries were possible. however, before another shower arrived, in which time the stand reached 100 before Newton registered 50 at exactly a run a ball (5x4, 1x6) in the 17th over.
Rain then interrupted a planned inspection at 6.30pm and conditions took a further turn for the worse, leaving umpires Alex Wharf and Paul Baldwin with no choice but to abandon the game at 7.15pm.
TEAM | Pettini, Delport, Eckersley, Cosgrove, Aadil, Hill (wk), Wells, Chappell, McKay (capt), Klein, Sykes.
Bowling figures for Leicestershire: Klein 3.5-0-32-1, Sykes 4-0-24-0, McKay 5-0-24-0, Chappell 3-0-32-0, Wells 1-0-8-0.
