Leicestershire v Derbyshire
The Northern Group of the Philips Twenty20 Cup ended in thrilling fashion at Grace Road, Leicester tonight. With Lancashire, Durham, Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire out of the picture, it all came down to the shootout between the Foxes and the Scorpions. Would there be a sting in the tail?
With Karl Krikken into the Derbyshire side to replace the injured Luke Sutton, Dominic Cork was relieved of his emergency wicketkeeping duties of the previous game.
Leicestershire, winning the toss, had first knock and their stylish top order of Indian star Virender Sehwag, Darren Stevens and Australian Brad Hodge got the hosts off to a quick start before before two wickets each for Dominic Hewson and Nathan Dumelow reduced Leicestershire to 124/6 with new batsmen Paul Nixon and Jeremy Snape at the crease.
Former England and Kent wicketkeeper Nixon then tore into the occasional spin of Michael Di Venuto, thrashing his two overs for 29 runs - including four wides from the Australian, and by the time Hewson (3/25) trapped him LBW, he had 27 off 13 balls include two fours and two sixes. Damian Brandy with a swift 13 followed Nixon's vein and Leicestershire had, if not out of jail completely, had got somebody to stump up the bail money.
Di Venuto's day went from bad to worse as the star of the Scorpions' batting line-up lasted all of four balls before Darren Maddy had him leg before for 8. Phil DeFreitas snapped up Nathan Dumelow soon afterwards and the vistors were 9/2 and looking in trouble. Enter Mohammad Kaif and Chris Bassano. Despite Cork and Hewson falling for single figures, the two brought Derbyshire back into it at 129/5, before Darren Stevens removed Kaif and David Masters dispatched Bassano. Leicester seemed safe, until Steve Selwood smashed Darren Maddy towards the boundary.
Brad Hodge took the catch... or did he? Memories of Pedro Collins in the World Cup came over Grace Road as Hodge allegedly stepped on the rope. Adrian Pierson, the Derbyshire coach, was not the only man to be livid as the catch was given by umpire Roy Palmer.
Yet it still wasn't over. Neil Gunter hit a four and a single off his first two balls and that left Derbyshire needing a six off the last ball to win it and reach the final. The ball crossed the boundary, but sadly for the visitors, it wasn't on the full and Leicestershire scraped into the final by just one run.
Twenty20 Cup, 2003, North Division
Leicestershire v Derbyshire
Grace Road, Leicester
24 June 2003 (20-over match)
Result: Leicestershire won by 1 runs
Points: Leicestershire 2, Derbyshire 0
Toss: Leicestershire
Umpires: PJ Hartley and R Palmer
Man of the Match: PAJ DeFreitas
Leicestershire innings (20 overs maximum) R M B 4 6
V Sehwag c Krikken b Welch 15 17 12 3 0
DI Stevens run out 28 28 26 4 0
BJ Hodge c Welch b Dumelow 37 34 30 3 0
*PAJ DeFreitas b Hewson 1 1 2 0 0
TR Ward c Welch b Hewson 3 7 6 0 0
DL Maddy c Bassano b Dumelow 17 19 15 3 0
+PA Nixon lbw b Hewson 27 11 13 2 2
JN Snape not out 11 14 9 1 0
DG Brandy c Bassano b Lungley 13 8 8 2 0
DD Masters not out 0 1 0 0 0
Extras (b 2, lb 6, w 9, nb 2) 19
Total (8 wickets, 20 overs) 171
DNB: JO Grove.
FoW: 1-32 (Sehwag), 2-54 (Stevens), 3-56 (DeFreitas),
4-71 (Ward), 5-106 (Hodge), 6-124 (Maddy), 7-143 (Nixon),
8-165 (Brandy).
Bowling O M R W
Welch 4 0 30 1 (1w)
Lungley 4 0 36 1 (1nb, 1w)
Hewson 4 0 25 3
Gunter 4 0 22 0 (2w)
Di Venuto 2 0 29 0 (4w)
Dumelow 2 0 21 2
Derbyshire innings (target: 172 runs from 20 overs) R M B 4 6
MJ Di Venuto lbw b Maddy 8 1 4 2 0
*DG Cork c Brandy b Masters 9 20 9 1 0
NRC Dumelow c Grove b DeFreitas 1 1 3 0 0
M Kaif c Maddy b Stevens 53 45 40 6 1
DR Hewson c Stevens b Sehwag 4 3 5 1 0
CWG Bassano c Stevens b Masters 43 29 32 3 2
SA Selwood c Hodge b Maddy 12 14 11 1 0
G Welch b DeFreitas 5 6 5 0 0
T Lungley b DeFreitas 7 7 7 1 0
+KM Krikken not out 3 7 2 0 0
NEL Gunter not out 9 3 3 2 0
Extras (lb 1, w 13, nb 2) 16
Total (9 wickets, 20 overs) 170
FoW: 1-8 (Di Venuto), 2-9 (Dumelow), 3-57 (Cork), 4-62 (Hewson),
5-129 (Kaif), 6-135 (Bassano), 7-147 (Welch),
8-153 (Selwood), 9-158 (Lungley).
Bowling O M R W
Maddy 3 0 29 2
DeFreitas 4 0 39 3
Grove 2 0 22 0 (6w)
Masters 3 0 20 2 (1nb, 1w)
Sehwag 3 0 20 1
Snape 3 0 23 0
Stevens 2 0 16 1 (1w)
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