Five wickets from Fateh Singh ensured Nottinghamshire made a victorious start to the Royal London U18 County Cup season with a 54-run win over Leicestershire.
A half century from Lucas Stentiford and several middle order cameos helped Nottinghamshire set an imposing total of 263 from their 50 overs before left-arm spinner Singh pinned back a lightning start to Leicestershire’s reply and tore through the visitors to seal success for the home side at Lady Bay.
With rain forecast around the county, Sam King won the toss and opted to bat, a decision seemingly vindicated by the positive start made by Stentiford and opening partner Travis Holland, who amassed 48 for the loss of no wickets by the end of the tenth over.
Holland proved the architect of his own downfall when, an over later, he called Stentiford back for a second after pushing into the off-side. A strong throw over the stumps to Jed Crearer from Ravi Yarwood-Paintal saw the right-hander dismissed for 30 from 26 balls.
Ben Wilcox went three overs later when he spliced a short Thomas Asher ball to Sachin Dubb at mid-wicket after adding six, which brought Ben Martindale to the crease, who, after a steady start acclimatising to the Lady Bay pitch, crashed Finn Haynes for six over wide-long on, only to be caught sweeping at square leg three balls later for 24.
With wickets falling at the other end, Stentiford pressed on, and brought up his 50 from 77 balls in the 27th over, sweeping behind square for six to take the score to 138 for three.
The right hander shared a fourth wicket stand worth 64 with his captain King, before the pair were involved in a mix up which saw the back of the latter. Stentiford defended to point with enough deftness to earn a run, so thought the skipper, but the opener sent his partner back, King unable to make his ground before Joe Norbury had thrown the stumps down for an industrious 31 from 35 balls.
Leicestershire capitalised upon the momentum to dismiss Stentiford (64) five balls later, trapped in front by Sachin Dubb attempting to turn the ball to the leg side, but the hosts appeared undeterred as Singh joined Qundeel Haider and the pair manipulated the ball into gaps to rotate the strike and keep the scoreboard active.
By the time Haider was caught pulling for 15 and Singh skewed to mid-wicket for an enterprising 34 from 33 deliveries, Notts were 234 for seven with six overs remaining, and George Park, Dan Frost and Ben Panter contributed 28 between them in the closing stages to set a commanding target.
In reply, Leicestershire took 19 from the third over, but lost their first wicket in farcical circumstances an over later.
Sam Wood defended back to bowler Panter and set off for a run, only for the seamer to gather the ball in his left hand. As Wood realised his error and turned back, he watched Panter miss the stumps with his throw, but to be saved by wicket keeper Frost who duly hit the stumps from close-range.
It did little to inhibit the visiting side who bludgeoned 77 from their first eight overs, before Singh got his first victim of the day, Raheem Ahmed unable to dig out a full delivery which castled the left-hander for 45 from 31 deliveries.
King, Drew Owen and Singh rotated through the proceeding 20 overs, the latter taking wickets at regular interval to keep Leicestershire in check despite a healthy run rate.
The third wicket to fall was courtesy of King, though. Rehan Ahmed’s flamboyant flick to the leg-side could only find Park on the edge of the circle to the skipper’s delight.
Singh got his second in the 22nd over when Joe Johnson failed to connect with a slog sweep and the ball hammered into the stumps, before Kieren Pell fell the same way, Singh breaching the defences of the right-hander for 29.
It left Leicestershire requiring 124 from the remaining 156 deliveries with five wickets intact, but that was soon to become four when Owen’s right-arm spin did for Norbury, the left-hander wafting at a wide delivery and inside edging through to Frost.
Crearer and Dubb put up some stubborn resistance for the visitors but struggled to progress the scoring as their top order had managed, and the former found himself the victim of a smart piece of wicket-keeeping in the 38th over, Frost displaying quick hands to stump his opposite number down the leg side for Singh’s fourth.
The left-armer only had to wait four more balls for his five-wicket haul, when Haynes looked to drive but could only bat-pad to King who swooped from slip to take the catch, to leave the away side 189-8 with 12 overs left.
Travis Holland took the Green and Golds a step closer to victory in the very next over when Yarwood-Paintal chipped tamely to King at mid-wicket, before the all-rounder tied up the game in the 45th, the ball careering into the stumps of Adit Mukherjee to earn the hosts the four points.
You can view the scorecard for the game here.