It took a record-breaking ninth-wicket stand for Leicestershire to win their Second Eleven Trophy match against Yorkshire at Grace Road – wicket-keeper Ed Eckersley and opening-bowler Alex Wyatt came together with at 80-8 in the 22nd over...a do-or-die situation if ever there was one...and they did it.

The weather prevented a prompt start, three overs being deducted from each side's allocation as Yorkshire batted first on the home captain’s invitation. There was no real spark to Yorkshire's batting as opener Alex Lees, pictured, set his stall out to add backbone to the innings - and he did so until he was the fifth out in the 35th over.

Adam Lyth scored a 20, but debutants Gerhard Rudolph – younger brother of Yorkshire's acting captain, Jacques, and Matthew Good with James Stuart managed only 20 between them. It was wicket-keeper Dan Hodgson who joined Lees in a run-a-ball 50 partnership that raised the score to, perhaps, a defendable total aided by a scurried 20 from Lee Hodgson and Alex Lilley

Leicestershire got off to the worst of starts: two wickets for Iain Wardlaw and one for Oliver Hannon-Dalby saw the Foxcubs at 15-3 in the fourth over. Opener Paul Handscomb, joined by Eckersley, then staunched the flow of wickets in a 50-run stand before he was caught and bowled in Lilley’s second over.

Lilley added Rob Taylor to his tally three balls later, followed by Liam Kinch in his next over and Nadeem Malik in his fifth. A run-out made it five wickets in seven overs with 10 added to the score to take the score to give us the miserable 80-8.

Despite all this Leicestershire had an over to spare when a cover-drive for four off Eckersley’s bat passed the visitors' total – Yorkshire's fifth Trophy defeat of the season. The teams then drove down the M69 to Hinckley to play their Second Eleven Championship match.

Words and Statistics: MICHAEL SNOOK