Northamptonshire 123 for 5 (Bopara 46*, Walker 2-20) beat Leicestershire 122 (van Beek 42, Sanderson 4-15) by five wickets
Northants Steelbacks maintained their 100 per cent start to the Vitality Blast after comfortably beating Leicestershire Foxes by five wickets at Northampton.
The Foxes mustered only 122 after their top order was blown away by Ben Sanderson (4 for 15) and David Willey (3 for 20). It was a meagre total, albeit a decent recovery from 39 for 7 thanks to a Foxes record T20 eighth-wicket stand of 55 between Logan van Beek (42 from 42 balls) and Tom Scriven (23).
The Steelbacks did not find run-scoring easy either but were always in control of the chase and reached 123 for 5 with four balls to spare. Ravi Bopara showed his experience and class in decisive fashion with a victory-clinching 46 not out from 40 balls.
Steelbacks captain Willey won the toss, chose to bowl and took out two Foxes in the first over. His first ball was chipped straight to mid-wicket by Rishi Patel. His fourth sent Louis Kimber's middle stump halfway back to Leicester.
If that was spectacular, almost as much so was the one-handed slip catch by Ricardo Vasconcelos when Shan Masood edged Sanderson in the next over. Sol Budinger, having lost three partners before facing a ball, got the score moving with a couple of fours but then left his leg-stump exposed and Willey hit it. When Lewis Hill cut Sanderson to point, providing the bowler's 100th T20 wicket for Steelbacks, the Foxes were 18 for 5 after 20 balls.
Sanderson, bowling his stint straight through, pinned Ben Cox lbw and had Liam Trevaskis caught behind to finish with his joint-best T20 figures. At 39 for 7, the Foxes were in a spot of bother.
Van Beek and Scriven responded with an intelligent stand of 55 from 46 balls. Scriven hoisted Lloyd Pope to long on and Van Beek pulled George Scrimshire to long leg but those two, along with some late clubbing from Roman Walker at least gave their side a glimmer of a chance.
Vasconcelos launched Steelbacks' reply by flicking Van Beek over mid-wicket for six but edged the seventh ball of the innings, from Matt Salisbury, to slip. Van Beek delivered that T20 rarity, a maiden over, and added the scalp of Willey, brilliantly caught by wicketkeeper Cox.
At 25 for 2, the door was ajar for the Foxes but Matt Breetzke and Bopara, with time on their side, added a pragmatic 50 in 50 balls. Breetzke and Saif Zaib, fell to successive balls from Walker but Bopara and George Bartlett (26) combined care with watchful aggression to see their side to the brink of victory with a partnership of 46 in 30 balls.
