Razzaq blitz stuns Lancashire

Leicestershire 165 for 6 beat Lancashire 162 for 5 by four wickets (D/L method)
Scorecard

Debutant Abdul Razzaq stunned Lancashire with a brutal innings as Leicestershire claimed their second Friends Life t20 win of the summer at Old Trafford. Chasing a Duckworth-Lewis boosted target of 165 from 19 overs, the Foxes had slumped to 99 for 6 in the 15th over and later needed 62 off the last 24 balls.

Pakistan's Razzaq then clubbed five sixes and three fours in a 30-ball 62 with a little help from tailender Wayne White. The pair shared an unbroken 66 inside five overs for the seventh wicket as White hit two maximums in 17 off 10 deliveries.

Razzaq only landed in England the day before but helped to take 25 off the 16th over bowled by home skipper Steven Croft. Having been dropped by Stephen Moore on 26, the allrounder cleared the long-on fence with successive balls.

White then hit maximums in a similar area off Gary Keedy and Kyle Hogg in the last two overs as the points were secured with four wickets and one ball to spare. Fellow overseas allrounder Andrew McDonald had laid a solid platform with an excellent 57 off 40 balls but Leicestershire slipped from 60 for 2 in the seventh.

The hosts' trio of spinners, Keedy, Simon Kerrigan and Stephen Parry all struck, with Keedy and Kerrigan getting two wickets each to put the skids under the visiting reply.

Lancashire openers Moore and Tom Smith were the reasons why their side posted a competitive total, adding 88 inside 10 overs after a slow start. Moore top-scored with 48 off 39 balls and Smith 45 off 27, increasing their scoring rate after taking only 29 runs off the first five overs.

Despite Smith holing out to McDonald at long-off as part-time spinner Josh Cobb struck in the 10th, the hosts scored 60 runs off the next five. Smith pulled Matthew Hoggard for six and whacked Cobb over long-off - the ball before departing - and Moore square-cut Hoggard for another maximum.

Claude Henderson played a part in dragging things back by getting Moore stumped by Paul Nixon and Croft caught and bowled in the 13th over on the way to figures of 2 for 26 from four. Lancashire also lost Paul Horton and Gareth Cross but a four and six off the last two balls of the innings from Jordan Clark boosted the total.

Smith then got Cobb caught at mid-on by a juggling Clark with the first ball of the Leicester innings before McDonald found his feet quickly. He shared 33 for the third wicket with James Taylor but the innings slipped as soon as the latter was trapped lbw by Kerrigan.

Nixon was stumped by Cross off a Keedy wide, McDonald punted the same bowler to Horton at long-off and Jacques Du Toit found Clark at midwicket off Kerrigan before Razzaq's fireworks turned the contest and inflicted a first defeat of this season's campaign on Lancashire.