Rain ends farce at Grace Road
Source -
sportinglife.com
Leicestershire Foxes and Derbyshire Phantoms both suffered their third no result in the Twenty20 Cup Northern Conference on a farcical evening at Grace Road.
The match was finally abandoned at 2035 in pouring rain and near darkness with defending champions Leicestershire at 28 for two off 4.3 overs chasing a Duckworth-Lewis revised target of 58 from seven overs.
Three more balls would have constituted a match with Derbyshire very much in the driving seat to claim victory - their first of this season's competition.
With spinner Ant Botha bowling the Foxes needed 12 more runs off three deliveries to claim a win.
But as the rain swept in umpires Barrie Leadbeater and Jeremy Lloyds called a halt and the players raced off the field with both sides collecting one point each.
The result effectively ended Derbyshire's hopes of qualifying for the quarter-finals and left Leicestershire's chances hanging in the balance.
The Foxes are three points behind leaders Nottinghamshire and one adrift of second-placed Lancashire with two games to play.
The start of the game was delayed by 20 minutes and Derbyshire decided to bat after winning the toss.
They had reached 50 for two off 7.3 overs before torrential rain sent the teams off the field.
Opener Michael Dighton was unbeaten on 25 off 26 balls while seamer Nick Walker had taken two for 24 off his four overs against his former county.
It was another two hours before play could resume by which time the Foxes had been set the revised target of 58 off seven overs.
But they fell well behind the rate as Dighton had Paul Harrison stumped and Tom Lungley snapped up the wicket of Hylton Ackerman before heavy rain finally brought a conclusion to the match.
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