Foxes begin Cup bid with victory
Source -
bbc.co.uk
Leicestershire launched their bid to reach Twenty20 Cup finals day for the fourth time in a row with a 14-run victory over Nottinghamshire.
Leicestershire launched their bid to reach Twenty20 Cup finals day for the fourth time in a row with a 14-run victory over Nottinghamshire in a low-scoring match at Grace Road.
The Foxes' total of 137 for six looked to be well below-par but the visitors never recovered from losing their first five wickets for 39 runs and could manage only 123 for eight.
Leicestershire's seamers Stuart Broad, Adam Griffith and David Masters did the damage, taking two wickets each as Notts slumped to their 14th defeat in 19 games since the competition began in 2003.
The Foxes owed their total to an unbeaten 47 from their captain Jeremy Snape after they had also struggled on a pitch giving plenty of assistance to the bowlers.
Darren Robinson, who made only three runs in 11 balls, fell lbw to Ryan Sidebottom in the third over and when Darren Maddy, Hylton Ackerman and Dinesh Mongia also departed cheaply in the first 10 overs the Foxes looked in trouble.
The run-out of Paul Nixon at 57 put Notts well in command but then Snape and John Sadler turned things round with a stand of 52 in six overs.
Sadler produced some fine attacking shots in his knock of 25 off 18 balls including a glorious straight six off Graeme Swann before being stumped by Chris Read off the same bowler.
Snape though saw the innings through, making 47 off 34 balls with five fours.
Then the home side's pacemen ripped the heart out of the Notts reply with Broad claiming two for 19, Griffith two for 22 and Masters two for 18.
Only a late flurry of runs from Gareth Clough, who made an unbeaten 40 off 29 balls and David Hussey with 32 put Notts in with any chance at all but they left too much to do in the last few overs and fell well short.
In the end it was a convincing win by the Foxes, who have lost only one home game since the competition began - and that was against Durham two years ago, the year they won the cup. They have also been beaten semi-finalists in the two other seasons of the competition.
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