Foxes finish with three successive victories

RLC 8 | Leicestershire Foxes 271 v Northamptonshire Steelbacks 261 for nine “ Foxes win by 4 runs (DLS method)

SCORECARD | Available from Cricinfo HERE

POINTS | Leicestershire Foxes 2, Northamptonshire Steelbacks 0

REPORT | Arron Lilley and Rehan Ahmed updated their career best List A totals as the Running Foxes set Northamptonshire Steelbacks a run-chase of 272.

The news from the middle at the County Ground in Northampton was that skipper Lewis Hill won the toss and opted for a bat.

There were no changes made to the Leicestershire XI from the team that were victorious down in Taunton two days ago, and the opening partnership of Harry Swindells and Rishi Patel remained.

The Foxes got off to a solid start with 33 runs being recorded between Swindells (8, 13b) and Patel (22, 17b) from the first five overs.

Steelbacks made the breakthrough from the next over though, as Swindells (9, 15b) looked to pull the delivery of Sanderson away but only managed to top-edge it to the hands of Procter stood at cover.

Patel fought back with back-to-back fours off the bowling of White from the next over as the duo of Patel and Lilley maintained the rate.

Lilley then recorded his first boundary of the day and brought up the fifty, as his awareness of the field allowed him to beautifully lift Sanderson down to third man for four.

Patel kept the boundary charge up as he recorded his fifth four of the day off Sanderson, after cutting the Northamptonshire man away off the back foot.

The Foxes man then looked to go again, this time pulling the shorter delivery over the leg side. The batsman could only top edge it towards Zaib running in from the boundary who took the catch diving forward.

Leicestershire were 62 for two as Hill joined Lilley in the middle on 9.3.

The duo stayed together for exactly four overs before Northamptonshire and Sanderson specifically, found their third wickets.

The Foxes skipper was the man to go, for eight, as Sanderson seamed one away from the batsman to clip the top of off. Rhodes joined Lilley in the middle with Leicestershire on 85 for three.

The fourth wicket saw Lilley update his career best List A score as he eclipsed the 41 set against Surrey two games prior.

The Foxes number three only reached 46, though, before Heldreich beat the batsman’s advances and a quick bit of work behind the stumps from Vasconcelos saw Lilley off.

Kimber joined Rhodes in the middle, fresh of his career best List A outing in the win against Somerset on Thursday as Leicestershire sat on 114 for four after 17.3 overs.

The fifth wicket stand recorded 20 further runs from 18 balls, before Kerrigan trapped Rhodes (12, 18b) infront for his first of the day.

Mike emerged to join Kimber in the middle as the duo looked to insert some composure into the middle to lower order of the Foxes’ batting line up.

Mike seemed have played himself in after recording hist first boundary, a six pulled all the way over the leg side off the bowling of White, before chipping the next delivery straight to the hands of Gay at midwicket for 16(30b).

The sixth wicket proved to be the most fruitful for Leicestershire thus far, recording 41 off 58 balls, as Barnes emerged to join Kimber.

Once again, as the new batsman was just beginning to get himself in at the crease, his wicket fell as Barnes (9, 21b) was pinned infront by Zaib who picked up his first.

Ahmed emerged as County had just three wickets in hand, with the score on 191 for seven after 34.5, and were in need of a useful partnership to give themselves any chance of posting a defendable total.

Ahmed and Kimber had weathered the opening few overs of the partnership and were beginning to increase the rate as a score of 270+ looked increasingly on the cards for County.

The partnership saw Kimber record his second successive half-century in the competition, as the Foxes man pushed Kerrigan backward of square leg to run the two required. The fifty came from 58 balls and included four fours.

Ahmed then went on to record his first maximum for the Running Foxes after cracking Keogh straight back over his head with a glorious straight drive.

The partnership was building up a head of steam before Kerrigan stepped in to stop it in its tracks, to claim his second of the day.  

Kimber (63, 68b) was the wicket to fall as Kerrigan got one to turn back in and crash into the batsman’s middle stump. Leicestershire were on 240 for eight, after the run-a-ball eighth wicket stand added 49 valuable runs.

Griffiths came to the crease and added three runs alongside Ahmed before Zaib’s full toss evaded his stroke and crashed into the Foxes seamer’s leg stump.

Leicestershire’s number 10 went for 2(2b) as Davis joined Ahmed in the middle to form County’s final partnership, as they sat on 243 for nine with 6.3 overs remaining.

The final wicket partnership remained intact until the final ball, as Davis looked to end the innings with a flourish. The Foxes man went for a big swing, mis-timed it and Zaib claimed his third wicket of the fixture with Davis departing for 15 off 25 balls.

The duo added 28 useful runs to see the Foxes close their innings on a defendable total of 271, with Ahmed the man not out on a career best List A score of 40 (42b).

Davis opened the bowling for Leicestershire from the Capel End and opened the innings with a maiden, with Vasconcelos and Gay opening the batting for the hosts.

After five overs, Northamptonshire had recorded 19 runs as the attack of Davis and Barnes had started on the front foot with the ball in hand.

At 15:07, rain began to descend in Northampton and the players were pulled of the field with the hosts sitting on 45 without loss after 7.5 overs.

The rain delayed play for 39 minutes, as the cricket got back underway at 15:46, with the revised total of 266 from 48 overs for the hosts.

Leicestershire soon went on to record three wickets in 10 deliveries, as the Foxes instated themselves upon the tie with Northamptonshire looking in danger of pulling away.

The first wicket to fall was danger man Gay (42, 39b), from Leicestershire’s second over of spin. Rhodes was the man to claim the scalp after turning one back in to beat the bat and wrap the Northamptonshire man on the back pad.

One brought two, as the adage goes, as Griffiths claimed his first of the game.

Rhodes was involved once again, as Griffiths’ delivery was sliced sharply towards Rhodes stood at backward point as he took the catch to see off the remaining opening batsman for 12 (25b).

Three balls later, and Griffiths had his second of the over after Curran chopped the slower delivery on to his stumps for just 1 (4b).

Following the flurry of wickets, the Running Foxes had inserted themselves well and truly back into the tie as Northamptonshire now sat on 56 for three after 11.4 overs.

The fourth wicket stand came together with Northamptonshire needing to stem the oncoming tide from the County attack, as Keogh joined Procter in the middle.

The duo went about their business sensibly, resisting any temptation of aerial shots and choosing the low route to run up the required runs.

Soon, Keogh recorded his fifty, coming in 56 balls and including three fours.

The partnership then had its 100th run in its sights, but Mike came in to break the stand before it reached the milestone.

A big wicket in the landscape of this clash regardless of which batsman it was to fall, although, Keogh would have been the preferred, and it was Keogh to fall.

The Northamptonshire man went for 52(61b) after driving Mike’s delivery straight to the hands of Rhodes stood at midwicket, and the testing 89-run fourth wicket stand came to an end with the hosts on 145 for four.

One, as it already has in this innings, quickly brought two, as Mike struck to also dismiss Procter (48, 67b).

It took an outstanding catch from Patel stood at backward point as the batsman looked to emphatically cut Mike away through the off-side.

Two much needed wickets for County, as Northamptonshire now sat on 166 for five after 34.1 overs with two new batsmen in Zaib and Sales in the middle.

The duo, led by Zaib, began to put on a useful partnership which was looking to set up a tense ending from a Leicestershire perspective.

In the same over where he hooked Barnes away for six, Zaib (43, 41b) looked to go big again off the Leicestershire man’s full toss, but hit it skyward towards the oncoming Lilley at deep midwicket.

Two further wickets fell in quick succession as Davis recorded his first two wickets of the day.

Five balls after Zaib’s wicket, and Sales (28, 30b) was soon making his way back to the shed after looking to clip Davis over square leg and away for four.

Rhodes, though, was stood at deep square leg and watched it fly into his hands to take his third grab of the day.

Three more Davis deliveries, and the Foxes man claimed his second wicket of the day with the scalp of Kerrigan (3, 8b).

The batsman pulled Davis’ slower ball towards deep square leg, where, once again, Rhodes was on hand to take the grab.

Northamptonshire were on 241 for eight with 1.5 overs remaining, requiring 25 runs.

A penultimate over of 14, including a six from Sanderson set up an enticing final over with the hosts requiring 11 runs for the win in Northampton.

Barnes bowled the final over of the day as Northamptonshire lost their ninth wicket. Sanderson (16, 7b) was the man to go, as some impressive fielding on the cover boundary from Lilley prevented the four off White.

The Foxes man then fired the ball into the non-strikers end as the duo looked to run two, and Barnes was left with enough time for the stumping.

The two remaining deliveries then yielded one run for the hosts as the Running Foxes claimed a four-run victory via DLS.

Victories for Surrey and Yorkshire Vikings, though, meant that Leicestershire would not be advancing through to the quarter final stage despite victory in Northamptonshire, after finishing in fourth place, one point behind Yorkshire Vikings who claimed a four-run victory over table-topping Glamorgan.

Leicestershire’s 2021 Royal London Cup campaign came to a close in similar fashion to their 2021 Vitality Blast campaign, on the back of three successive victories.

FIGURES | White 8-0-53-1, Sanderson 7-1-30-3, Sales 5-0-32-0, Heldreich 6-0-49-1, Kerrigan 10-1-47-2, Zaib 10-0-37-3, Keogh 4-0-18-0

Davis 6-1-40-2, Barnes 7-0-46-1, Rhodes 10-0-41-1, Griffiths 8-0-34-2, Ahmed 4-0-27-0, Lilley 9-0-49-0, Mike 4-0-24-2

FOXES | Patel, Swindells (wk), Lilley, Hill (C), Rhodes, Kimber, Mike, Ahmed, Barnes, Griffiths, Davis

STEELBACKS | Vasconcelos (C, wk), Gay, Curran, Keogh, Procter, Zaib, Sales, Kerrigan, White, Sanderson, Heldreich

IMAGES | Thanks to John Mallett of Outside Off for providing images throughout the game.