By six wickets, Leicestershire defeated Yorkshire 184 (Coad 45, Salisbury 3-28) with a total of 186 for 4 (Handscomb 60, Mulder 51*).
With a six-wicket victory over the Yorkshire Vikings at Grace Road, the Leicestershire Foxes completed their Metro Bank One-Day Cup group stage. However, they will have to wait until Tuesday to find out if their record of seven victories from eight matches is sufficient to advance them as Group A winners and guarantee them a home semifinal.
Following Hampshire’s victory against Surrey, they still have a chance to match Leicestershire’s point total by defeating Kent at home on Tuesday. In that case, the net run rate would be used to determine the final standings. To continue competing, the person who places second must first win a quarterfinal at home on Friday.
After Matt Salisbury (three for 28) and Chris Wright (three for 31) had been the Foxes’ standout bowlers, Leicestershire was able to chase down Yorkshire’s 184 all-out with 46 balls remaining with half centuries from international talents Peter Handscomb and Wiaan Mulder.
Up until a ninth-wicket stand of 75 between Dom Bess (40) and Ben Coad (45), a career-best List, the Vikings were in danger of suffering a more humiliating defeat. A score for both saved Yorkshire from being 91 for eight, but the loss along with Lancashire’s victory at Lord’s ended their opportunity to advance to the knockout stages by finishing in the top three.
Wright put Yorkshire on the back foot right away by reducing them to 24 for three in eight overs after Leicestershire were forced to change their bowling strategies because Josh Hull and Tom Scriven, two of their top tournament wicket-takers, were out with a stomach ailment.
After the Foxes won the toss, Wright had Harry Duke caught behind as he under-edged a ball outside off stump, and then he bowled Shan Masood and Will Luxton in quick succession, with the right-handed Luxton being thoroughly dismissed by a ball that appeared to come back sharply.
Yorkshire’s attempts to gather momentum were halted until the Bess-Coad comeback. Fin Bean played over one that thudded into the front pad as Salisbury, the first replacement at the Bennett End as Wright took a break with figures of three for 12, struck with his third ball.
As they added 36 runs in seven overs, James Wharton and Bean provided something of a foundation for the Vikings. However, after Bean was dismissed, the Vikings faltered once more as they lost Wharton to a catch at deep midwicket and George Hill, who pushed at one from Salisbury and was caught behind.
Ben Mike, who was facing his former teammates, was leg before to a delivery that kept a bit low, and Matthew Revis was then caught at short midwicket by Will Davis, who was playing in his first 50-over call-up of the year.
Until Bess attempted to paddle-scoop Wiaan Mulder and pushed the ball into wicketkeeper Handscomb’s gloves, everything appeared at ease.
Lewis Hill stuck with his five seamers because he didn’t have access to a front-line spinner because Rehan Ahmed, Callum Parkinson, and Colin Ackermann were all affiliated with Hundred franchises. Bess and Coad, however, looked comfortable until Bess attempted to paddle-scoop Wiaan Mulder and shoved the ball into wicketkeeper Handscomb’s gloves.
Hill finally resorted to Louis Kimber, a part-time spinner who, in this competition last year, got a four-for with his off-breaks. The final Yorkshire wicket was taken by Kimber in just three overs, outswinging Coad’s wide swing and setting up Handscomb for a successful stumping.
Opening pair Rishi Patel and Sol Budinger may have had good reason to stick with their aggressive strategy that had resulted in 673 runs between them in the competition, even though the pitch did not appear to be one that was favorable to clean hitting.
This time, it backfired since both players were out within the first 15 balls of the Foxes’ inning. Patel misfired a ball to George Hill in the middle, while Budinger, who was attempting to smear Coad over midwicket, was caught by wicketkeeper Duke after the ball left his bat vertically.
After a dozen overs of steadily advancing the score at a needed pace of slightly over 3.5 runs per over, Handscomb and Hill chose a more conservative approach, but Hill was given the leg before trying to work a ball from Coad.
When Handscomb and Mulder joined him, bringing two hot batters to the crease, the scoring rate spiked. Leicestershire were 110 for three after 25 overs as Australian Handscomb reached his seventh half-century in the league so far, adding a pull for six from Mike to four boundaries, and needed 75 runs to win in the second half of the inning.
When Handscomb attempted to turn Mulder down the leg side and feathered a catch to Duke, Dom Bess broke their partnership. However, Mulder quickly reached his fourth fifty of the match off 73 balls with five fours before Kimber lifted Jack Shutt’s off spin for a six over midwicket and then smashed the winning boundary off Mike.
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