One-Day Cup: Kent beat Leicestershire to set up Hampshire semi-final
- Published
Joe Denly's half-century was his second in five games for Kent in this season's One-Day Cup
Royal London One-Day Cup quarter-final, Uptonsteel County Ground, Leicester |
Kent 325-8 (50 overs): Denly 65, Evison 62, Compton 56; Hendricks 2-35 |
Leicestershire 244 (42.4 overs): Mulder 81, Steel 65; Stewart 4-42, Podmore 3-35 |
Kent beat Leicestershire by 81 runs |
Kent set up a One-Day Cup semi-final against T20 Blast winners Hampshire with an 81-run win over Leicestershire.
Openers Joey Evison (62) and Ben Compton (56) put on 95 and Joe Denly's 65 off 51 balls led them to 325-8.
The home side were 77-3 in reply, with all three wickets for Harry Podmore.
Leicestershire skipper Wiaan Mulder passed 500 runs in the competition in his 81 off 71 balls but Grant Stewart polished off the tail with 4-42 as they were all out for 244 in the 43rd over.
The win prolongs the Kent white-ball career of 46-year-old all-rounder Darren Stevens - who was playing against his hometown club - for at least one more match as they head for the Ageas Bowl on Tuesday, with Sussex at home to Lancashire in the other semi-final.
In a match-up of two teams whose last 50-over trophies were a dim and distant memory - Kent lifted the B&H Cup in 1978 and Leicestershire did the same in 1985 - it was the Foxes who won the toss at Grace Road and opted to put the visitors in.
But Evison hit two successive sixes over long on off Louis Kimber on his way to a run-a-ball 50, supported by the consistent Compton, whose own half-century was his fifth in the One-Day Cup this season.
Kent were 166-2 after 30 overs before Compton was bowled by a beauty from Mulder, which clipped the top of off stump.
Denly hit two sixes and six fours but carelessly drilled a catch to cover, prompting an angry swish of the bat before he walked off, leaving Stevens to pick up the scoring rate with 41 off 24 balls.
Stevens fell in the 47th over, caught off Beuran Hendricks, but Harry Finch hit four boundaries off Mulder in the last over to finish 30 not out.
Such a target was always going to be a tall order for Leicestershire, whose highest successful chase in this season's competition was 263-6 against Gloucestershire at Bristol on 17 August.
Kent veteran Darren Stevens bowled his 10 overs in a single spell for figures of 0-37
Scott Steel settled well into the anchor role, but Podmore removed Nick Welch and Rishi Patel in the same over and then bowled Kimber to leave them on 77-3.
Steel and Mulder added 83 before the former, on 65, needlessly tried an ugly slog off Nathan Gilchrist after hitting 10 from the previous two deliveries and skied a catch.
When Mulder, who hit a six and nine fours, was bowled by one that kept low, Leicestershire's chances faded and their last five wickets went down for 30 runs in the space of five overs.
Semi-final fixtures, 30 August
Hove: Sussex v Lancashire
Ageas Bowl: Hampshire v Kent
Post-match quotes
Leicestershire head coach Paul Nixon:
"It was a closer game than the result suggests, but we weren't at our best. We didn't field well, which we have in this competition, but Wright and Hendricks bowled outstandingly. They have had a great competition, 17 wickets each.
"We were always behind where we wanted to be (with the bat) because there were too many dot balls, too many overs which yielded five runs or less, and they built pressure in the middle overs.
"Wiaan batted beautifully, 530 runs to go with 14 wickets. He's been amazing. Everything you could ask for in your overseas player, but we put him under too much pressure."
Kent all-rounder Darren Stevens:
"It's been all about finding a bit of momentum in this competition. In the last three games that's what we've done - everybody chipping in, making a contribution, and we're on the up, which is what you want going in to a semi-final.
"We thought the pitch would get a bit lower and slower and we were a bit fortunate to get Mulder. The ball that got him hit the base of the stumps when he was playing as well as anybody had, but that's the way it goes.
"Hampshire got the wood on us earlier this season at Beckenham, but there were one or two moments in that game when it might have gone our way. The pressure is different in a semi compared to the group stages."