Leicestershire 291 for 7 (Handscomb 74, Rahane 70, Trevaskis 60*, Turner 4-44) beat Hampshire 290 for 8 (Gubbins 136, Dawson 50, Scriven 3-61) by three wickets
Holders Leicestershire Foxes advanced one step closer to retaining their Metro Bank One-Day Cup crown, defeating Hampshire by three wickets with just one ball to spare in the quarter-final at Grace Road in a thrilling repeat of last year’s final. They now face a trip to Taunton to play Somerset in the semi-finals on Sunday.
Hampshire skipper Nick Gubbins made a superb 136, backed up by Liam Dawson’s 50 with 18-year-old Dominic Kelly hitting 39 from just 20 balls to post 290 for 8 from 50 overs after Tom Scriven (3 for 61) and Chris Wright (2 for 49) had led the Leicestershire bowlers in keeping the total below 300 on an excellent batting wicket.
In reply, Leicestershire’s star duo of Australian Peter Handscomb (74) and India’s Ajinkya Rahane (70) shared a fourth-wicket stand of 128 – their third 100-plus partnership of the competition.
Once those two were both back in the pavilion, Hampshire, for whom John Turner took 4 for 44, would have fancied themselves to avenge their defeat in last season’s Trent Bridge finale – yet though they fought until the end, the task proved just beyond them after seventh-wicket pair Liam Trevaskis (60 off 55 balls) and Ben Cox (45 off 50), had added 94 in 82 balls with Trevaskis hitting two sixes and four fours.
Leicestershire had chosen to bowl first against a Hampshire side who pipped Derbyshire to third place in Group A on net run-rate. With Ian Holland not permitted to face his parent club, it was Scriven who made the first breakthrough in the 12th over as Fletcha Middleton was pinned in front as he swung across the line.
Gubbins dominated a 50-run second-wicket stand that ended when Tom Prest was caught at midwicket off left-arm spinner Trevaskis. Louis Kimber’s offspin then bowled Ben Brown middle stump.
A seventh four took Gubbins to 53 from 64 balls, and at 144 for three from 30 after Dawson had slog-swept Trevaskis for the day’s first six, Hampshire threatened to post in excess of 300. Gubbins moved to his first century of this season’s competition from 120 balls, including 11 fours.
An aggressive Dawson hammered Scriven for his second maximum, but just as Gubbins began to follow suit with pulls for six off Trevaskis and Wright, the latter changed the picture somewhat with two wickets in three balls, bowling Gubbins off an inside edge and uprooting new batter Toby Albert’s middle stump.
Dawson, having just completed a run-a-ball fifty, chipped a full toss back into the hands of bowler Walker, three wickets having gone for 18 runs in 23 balls.
Kelly’s four fours and two sixes in 19 balls restored some momentum before he mistimed the next as Scriven claimed his third wicket with the help of Trevaskis at mid-off in the final over, having also had Felix Organ caught at short third.
Leicestershire’s chances of chasing down 291 to keep their title defence suffered some early damage as Turner – back from his Hundred stint with Trent Rockets – had surprise opener Roman Walker and Lewis Hill caught behind, bowling Sol Budinger in between to leave the Foxes 30 for 3.
Yet for the next 19 overs, Rahane and Handscomb exploited perfect batting conditions, Rahane as elegant as he was effective, Handscomb destructively efficient.
Hampshire seemingly had no answer to the quality and experience seemingly swinging the match in Leicestershire’s favour but that changed as Handscomb, having hit eight fours and two sixes, paid the price for his first mistake as Kelly steadied himself under a miscued pull coming out of the sun and gave the returning Turner a fourth wicket.
When Brad Wheal followed up by bowling Kimber, Leicestershire were 167 for 5, needing a further 124 that suddenly seemed a much taller order, even with Rahane still there, which was not for much longer as the Indian’s timing let him down and he picked out Albert at deep square to give Wheal his second wicket.
At 188 for 6, the Foxes’ defence was in serious jeopardy, with 101 still needed, yet although Cox had an escape on 31 when he was dropped on the midwicket boundary – denying Turner a fifth wicket – he and the bold Trevaskis kept their nerve to leave the target just nine runs away from 12 balls when Cox was out, Fletcha Middleton atoning for his earlier error.
Kelly had the responsibility for bowling the last over, with five still needed, the youngster not helping himself with a no-ball for overstepping, yet it still went to the penultimate ball before Scriven hit the winning run.
