Leicestershire beat Yorkshire by 3 wickets

Leicestershire Foxes maintained their unbeaten record in the Norwich Union League when they beat Yorkshire Phoenix with 10 balls to spare. Ben Smith guided the Foxes home with an unbeaten 88.

After heavy rain on Saturday night the Foxes put Yorkshire into bat on a cold and overcast afternoon. The start to the Phoenix innings was strangled by the Foxes opening bowlers, especially Chris Lewis who bowled three maidens in his first six overs and conceded five runs. However James Ormond's third over gave momentum to the Phoenix start when he conceded 16 runs off it.

David Byas scored ten in 28 minutes before he was caught behind by Burns of Lewis. Gary Fellows and Richard Blakey put on 129 in 29 overs. When he had scored 63, Fellows was dropped at long on by Ward of Lewis. He was eventually out when he added another two runs to his score. Fellows pulled Dakin and DeFreitas made a running catch from square leg. His innings lasted 134 minutes and he hit four fours.

Blakey's fifty came after 113 minutes from 102 balls. Together with Lehmann the pair tried to get the Yorkshire innings going and put the match beyond the foxes as Lehmann hit Dakin for two successive fours. Lewis struck again when he had Blakey caught by Maddy for 68 in the 44th over. Michael Vaughan playing his first match for Yorkshire since breaking a bone in his hand scored two as the Yorkshire innings closed on 189 for three. Darren Lehmann scored an unbeaten 30 in35 minutes.

The Foxes started their reply as if they expected rain to interrupt the match. They scored 20 in three overs. Wells hit two fours in the first over from Hutchison. Wells scored four fours before he was bowled by Hutchison for 19. Paul Hutchison got his second wicket when he got Stevens to play on for a duck. Ward chipped Hutchison off his toes straight to wood at square leg to give the blonde paceman his third wicket.

Then the Foxes produced the stand that won the match for them between Ben Smith and Phil DeFreitas. The pair scored 70 for the fourth wicket. After hitting Hamilton for two successive fours, he flashed at the next ball which just went over Middlebrook at slip. DeFreitas was dropped by Hamilton at long on of Lehmann when he had scored 23.

DeFreitas danced down the wicket to Lehmann and hit the ball straight to Vaughan in the covers. Dakin was bowled by Middlebrook for five and Lewis scored seven before he was bowled by Lehmann with one that kept low. Hoggard dismissed Maddy for eight and the Foxes were seven down and still needed 33 to win.

The match finally turned in favour of the Foxes when they scored 21 of the 42nd and 43rd overs. Ben Smith finished the match off when he square cut Elstub for four with ten balls left. The main difference between the sides was the bowling. The Phoenix only managed one maiden in their overs while the Foxes bowled six.