Leicestershire v Nottinghamshire
Twenty20 Cup kings Leicestershire Foxes launched their defence of the trophy with a thrilling victory over Nottinghamshire Outlaws in front of a record crowd of 5,100 at Grace Road.
The Foxes won by five wickets with four balls to spare with West Indian all-rounder Ottis Gibson clinching victory with a six off Andrew Harris, giving them a total of 147 for five.
It was an exciting finale to a closely-fought match witotalling 143-8 after winning the toss.
The Foxes looked to be cruising when Dinesh Mongia and John Sadler were together sharing a stand of 63 in nine overs for the third wicket.
But Sadler was bowled by Gareth Clough for 26 and when Mongia holed out four runs later for 39 off 28 balls it suddenly became a struggle for the home side.
But wicketkeeper Paul Nixon and Gibson steered them home with an unbroken partnership of 44 in 4.2 overs.
Nixon, with a well-paced innings and some sweetly struck boundaries, made 32 off 19 balls.
And it was he who swung the game the Foxes’ way with two successive fours off the final two deliveries off the penultimate over, bowled by Greg Smith.
The Outlaws made a blistering start to their innings with 30 runs off three overs but were checked when Gibson bowled Swann and Stephen Fleming.
Then the Foxes’ trio of spinners, Mongia, Jeremy Snape and Claude Henderson, put the brakes on even more in mid-innings.
Mongia took one for 19, Snape three for 18 in his four overs and Henderson one for eight – and the Outlaws had to regroup.
But 32 by Samit Patel and 23 off 17 balls by Clough helped them post a competitive total which tested the champions to the limit.
Twenty20 Cup, 2005, North Division
Leicestershire v Nottinghamshire
Grace Road, Leicester
22 June 2005 (20-over match)
Result: Leicestershire won by 5 wickets
Points: Leicestershire 2, Nottinghamshire 0
Toss: Nottinghamshire
Umpires: NG Cowley and JH Evans
TV Umpire: PJ Hartley
Man of the Match:
Nottinghamshire innings R M B 4 6
GP Swann b Gibson 5 2 3 1 0
*SP Fleming b Gibson 24 10 12 4 0
DJ Hussey b Snape 22 27 17 2 1
+CMW Read c Ackerman b Willoughby 0 2 2 0 0
SR Patel c Willoughby b Snape 32 25 28 5 0
MA Ealham c Maddy b Snape 3 8 9 0 0
PJ Franks not out 17 25 23 1 0
WR Smith c Nixon b Mongia 1 2 2 0 0
GD Clough c Willoughby b Henderson 23 12 17 0 2
GJ Smith not out 11 8 7 0 1
Extras (lb 1, w 4) 5
Total (8 wickets, 20 overs) 143
DNB: AJ Harris.
FoW: 1-8 (Swann), 2-30 (Fleming), 3-31 (Read), 4-79 (Hussey),
5-89 (Patel), 6-89 (Ealham), 7-91 (WR Smith),
8-120 (Clough).
Bowling O M R W
Gibson 4 0 29 2 (2w)
Willoughby 4 0 35 1 (1w)
Maddy 2 0 33 0 (1w)
Mongia 4 0 19 1
Snape 4 0 18 3
Henderson 2 0 8 1
Leicestershire innings (target: 144 runs) R M B 4 6
*HD Ackerman run out 3 11 8 0 0
DL Maddy b GJ Smith 11 11 9 2 0
D Mongia c Patel b Swann 39 33 28 7 0
JL Sadler b Clough 26 28 26 1 1
JN Snape c Read b Swann 8 12 12 1 0
+PA Nixon not out 32 28 19 4 1
OD Gibson not out 12 19 14 0 1
Extras (b 4, lb 5, w 7) 16
Total (5 wickets, 19.2 overs) 147
To Bat: JK Maunders, CW Henderson, J Allenby, CM Willoughby.
FoW: 1-16 (Ackerman), 2-16 (Maddy), 3-79 (Sadler), 4-83 (Mongia),
5-103 (Snape).
Bowling O M R W
GJ Smith 4 0 23 1 (2w)
Harris 3.2 0 36 0 (1w)
Ealham 4 0 19 0
Swann 4 0 30 2
Clough 3 0 25 1
Patel 1 0 5 0
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