2020 North: Leicester.. Just

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.

Meanwhile, at Old Trafford, Carl Hooper returned excellent figures of 4/18 to restrict Durham to 140/9 chasing Lancashire's 144/8. Lancashire's Alec Swann made a crucial 56, and John Wood bludgeoned a run-a-ball 15 at number nine, whilst Stuart Law (22) was Shoaib Akhtar's only victim on his Durham debut. Akhtar then registered a first-baller coming in as a pinch-hitter but Gordon Muchall's excellent 61 was the only major contribution, as Hooper's last over only yielded three when eight were needed. John Lewis was unbeaten on 24* as the tail let him down.

In the final group game at Headingley, England Under-19 quick bowler Tim Bresnan, fresh from his first one-day 50 on Sunday, starred with three wickets in four balls, all bowled with yorkers, stopped the Nottinghamshire run-chase in its tracks as Yorkshire won by 18 runs. Michael Lumb, with a sensational 55 off 26 balls, including four fours and five sixes, led the way in Yorkshire's 196/5.

Matt Wood, Craig White, Gavin Hamilton and Richard Blakey all hitting sixes as well as Lumb. Samit Patel ended with unenviable figures of 0/28 off just one over. Kevin Pietersen's 21-ball 44, with three sixes of his own, set Nottinghamshire on the way and, at 140/2 the visitors looked well set. Lumb then turned star with the ball to reduce them to 144/5. Paul Franks led a mini-recovery to 169/5 with four overs to go, but then Bresnan struck.

Posted by Neil