WORCESTERSHIRE Royals edged a nervy three-wicket victory at Leicestershire Foxes to hand the New Road side their first win on the road in the Friends Provident t20 North Group and lift them off the foot of the table.
Having restricted the Grace Road outfit to 142-8, Worcestershire made hard work of their target, which was achieved with an over to spare, to keep their slim quarter-final hopes alive.
The Royals took advantage of a slow pitch with Moeen Ali returning career-best figures of 3-19.
Worcestershire must have thought it would be their night when Jacques du Toit lofted James Cameron to the boundary only for Alexei Kervezee to leap into the air, take the ball and, before he fell over the boundary rope, flick it back to the waiting hands of Phil Jaques.
Leicestershire had yet to win on home soil in this season’s tournament, while the Royals hadn’t had any success away from New Road.
But that was all to change after another tidy opening spell from unorthodox left-armer Jack Shantry. His first three overs went for just 10 and, when he returned for the final over, he picked up the wicket of former County quick Nadeem Malik.
The Foxes tried to exploit the width of Gareth Andrew and Richard Jones, but spinners Moeen and Sanath Jayasuriya kept them in check.
Leicestershire reached 142-8 with the help of 21 extras, while Wayne White top-scored with 26 before becoming Moeen’s final victim.
Jaques got the Royals’ reply off to a fine start with a solid 32 off 27 balls as he dominated the opening six overs before falling to Matthew Hoggard. Once the Australian left-hander had departed, Jayasuriya hit the former England seamer for six to keep the visitors up with the rate.
However, the 41-year-old then pulled Claude Henderson straight to Brad Hodge at mid-on for 25 just as he and Moeen looked to be building a partnership.
Once again, it was the slow bowlers who kept the game finely-balanced.
However, when Brad Hodge removed Kervezee and Moeen in the same over, the Foxes sensed their first home success in the tournament.
With five overs remaining, Worcestershire needed nine-an-over and it looked to be a tall order. Cameron hit Hodge for four before finding du Toit to give the Aussie his third wicket.
Then, following a mini-collapse, Gareth Andrew set up a tense finish to leave the Royals needing 16 runs off the final two overs, but the all-rounder fired an unbeaten 27 off 11 balls to secure the win.
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