Nottinghamshire’s Second XI suffered a five wicket trophy defeat at the hands of Leicestershire despite Sam Kelsall’s century.
Leicestershire won the toss and asked Nottinghamshire to bat first, Sam Kelsall and Matt Cross opening the batting, however Cross (12) was trapped lbw by Ollie Freckingham in the 6th over (36-1). Hassan Azad joined Kelsall who reached his fifty in the 16th over (86-1) but Azad (12) was caught by Tom Wells off Rob Sayer’s bowling in the over 20th over (94-2). Sam Wood was next in and he scored two runs in the 22nd over to bring the 100 up and in the 32nd he stroked a four to the offside boundary to reach the fifty partnership (147-2).
Wood reached his fifty in the 36th over (174-2) but in the 38th he was caught by Alex Wyatt off Wells for 62 (60 balls), the score 190-3. The next over was eventful, Adam Tillcock (1) was caught by keeper Lewis Hill off Wyatt (199-4), Paul Franks pushed a single to bring the two hundred up, then Kelsall reached his century with a two (13 fours).
In the 41st Franks (23) was run out by Hill (232-5) and Luke Fletcher came to the crease, the 250 coming up in the 44th over. However next over Kelsall was bowled by Usman Tariq for 109 (14 fours, 128 balls) bringing Aussie trialist Stephen Seymour to the middle (251-6). Fletcher (19) was caught on the offside boundary by Neil Pinner off Tariq in the 47th over as the visitors pushed the score (262-7) and second ball of the last over Simon Webster (2) was caught by Aadil Ali off Freckingham (280-8). Eight runs were added from the last four balls, the innings closing on 288-8, Seymour unbeaten on 29 and Luke Wood 1 not out.
The Leicestershire reply came from Alex Williams and Will Root but Williams (1) was bowled in the 2nd over by Luke Wood (3-1), skipper Dan Redfern replacing him. Root (6) was bowled by Fletcher next over (19-2) and Neil Pinner came in, the home side pushing on and the fifty coming up in the 8th over however, in the 12th Redfern (35) was adjudged lbw to Simon Walton (71-3) and Tom Wells came to the middle.
The hundred was reached in the 19th over and Pinner reached his fifty in the 21st (121-3). The 150 came up in the 26th over as the home side kept pushing on and the hundred partnership was reached in the 29th (170-3). Wells reached his 50 in the 32nd over (186-3), the 200 came up in the 34th and Pinner’s hundred (11 fours, 90 balls) was reached in the 37th (216-3). By the 40th over the score was 247-3, Pinner 122* and Wells 67*, but next over Wells (75) was bowled by Adam Tillcock ending a partnership of 184 and next ball Aadil Tariq (0) was caught by Fletcher off Tillcock (255-6).
Lewis Hill came in next and together with Pinner they chased down the target, finishing the innings in the 46th over, Pinner unbeaten on 140 and Hill 16*, the score 289-5 to win by 5 wickets.