It might be the competition for also-ran cricketers who are not good enough to land a Hundred contract, and the Metro One-day Cup could even be called a plate competition or the Compensation Cup. But it was still a thrilling ding-dong final which Leicestershire won by two runs.
To recover from 19 for four to a seven-down total of 267 spoke volumes for the strength and depth of county cricket, and for the spiritedness of this Leicestershire club which is picking itself up. Three local lads rallied them – Lewis Hill, Sam Evans and Harry Swindells – against a decent Hampshire attack, then they fielded for their lives and defended eight off the last over.
Swindells, who scored an unbeaten 117 off 96 balls, was playing his first 50-over game of this season, because the Australian Test batsman Peter Handscomb had been doing the wicketkeeping. Swindells, who represented England Under-19s, has not played a Championship game either this summer, and had fallen even further down Leicestershire’s pecking order when they signed Ben Cox from Worcestershire to keep wicket next season, while Handscomb concentrates on batting and captaincy. Swindells is out of contract at the end of this season unless there is a sudden change of heart.
This match, however, was shaping as a non-event when the Foxes were initially out-foxed by Keith Barker, who took three wickets in his first four overs. The left-armer bowled round the wicket and darted the white ball both ways, while Ian Holland at the pavilion end dobbed down seven overs for 13 runs and another wicket. Hill kept his county afloat with a busy 42 before Evans and Swindells added 151 for the seventh wicket, yes, the seventh: 89 for six is normally no sort of platform in any limited-overs game.
In a half-filled ground – a faint echo of the county cup finals of yesteryear at Lord’s – Leicestershire’s supporters were far more vociferous, if not numerous, than Hampshire’s and served to rally their team. Evans could do little more than rotate the strike with singles but Swindells began belting boundaries, twice picking up none other than Barker for six, and whatever they lacked in weight of stroke, the Leicestershire pair made up for by their sprinting between wickets and hurling themselves into the crease.
Hampshire, once cruising, possibly complacent, were rattled: none more so than their captain Nick Gubbins who dropped the most straightforward chance at extra-cover when Evans was 55 then ran himself out. Gubbins pushed to mid-off and could not beat Wiaan Mulder’s direct hit.
Hampshire were cruising again when they reached 117 for two. Leicestershire needed a great piece of fortune or fielding to assist their threadbare attack. To pack their batting the Foxes picked only five bowlers – one of them the part-timer Colin Ackerman – and no reserve in case one had a bad day.
Hill had to gamble by bringing back his senior seamer Chris Wright, who obliged with two wickets caught at midwicket, while the left-arm seamer Josh Hull, only 19, switched to round the wicket and caught Tom Prest. The Foxes were now doing the hunting; and the great fielding came when the sub Will Davis made a diving-forwards catch, and Hull dived sideways when flat-out at long-leg. Hampshire, at the crunch, became too fond of the ramp for a slowish pitch. Thus buoyed, Hull got the better of the near-veteran England all-rounder Liam Dawson and defended eight off the last over.
It would have been so easy for Leicestershire to give up the ghost after finishing bottom of the County Championship as often as not in the last decade. Instead, they have made the most of their own resources, going into their own communities, selecting their Academy products, and even unearthing an England player in the wrist-spinning allrounder Rehan Ahmed. As for Swindells, he will presumably be signed by Nottinghamshire. Most good Leicestershire players are.
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