Northants overcome Leicestershire

Matthew Hayden's undefeated 96 took Northamptonshire to victory by 4 wickets with nine balls to spare over Leicestershire at Grace Road. It was his first National League half-century of the summer and the Australian left-hander celebrated by hitting three sixes and eight four from 110 deliveries in the chase for 188 runs.

The target was less than it had appeared it would be at one time - however Leicestershire's last six wickets toppled for 26 runs in seven overs.

Quick bowlers Darren Cousins and Tony Penberthy took three wickets apiece in snatching away the advantage Phil DeFreitas and Aftab Habib had seemed to gain by putting on 73 in 16 overs. Habib hit 70 from 109 balls with a six and four fours, but his dismissal brought about the collapse. In the next over DeFreitas was run out for 40, and then the remaining batsmen followed each other out in procession.

The batting jitters continued into Northamptonshire's innings with Adrian Rollins caught magnificently before he had scored by Darren Maddy in James Ormond's opening over. The same bowlers had Mal Loye taken at slip. And if any of the three chances offered by Hayden had been taken they would have been in serious trouble.

He and David Sales pulled the game round with a 70 runs stand for the third wicket. Although few other batsmen stayed with him Hayden lasted the distance to make his highest score in the National League in a summer and a half with Northamptonshire. He took 72 balls to reach his half-century with six fours, and hit three sixes to win the match.