A magnificent century from Rob Keogh setup a comfortable win for the Steelbacks at Grace Road.
Alex Wakely named two forced changes to the eleven at the toss, with Jason Holder having finished his stay at the club and Adam Rossington out with an injury picked up against Yorkshire. Ben Curran returned to the side alongside Brett Hutton who returns from injury to play his first game of the competition. Wakely called correctly and elected to bat first.
In stark contrast to his innings against Yorkshire, Vasconcelos’ stay at the crease was a short one as he was bowled by a ball that nipped back sharply in the second over of the innings. Richard Levi was caught at mid off just a few overs later before the leadership pair of Wakely and Cobb began to steady things. When Alex Wakely fell LBW for 36 and Cobb shortly after for 43 the Steelbacks found themselves in a precarious position at 104/4.
Rob Keogh and Ben Curran came together and set to work, running hard and utilising the healthy gaps on offer at Grace Road. The partnership passed 50 in 47 balls and 100 from just 101, both batsmen looking untroubled as the total built. Rob Keogh passed 50 at almost a run a ball before quickly moving up the gears to lift the Northamptonshire total. Curran reached his first List A half century from 55 balls as the total moved past 250. Curran eventually fell for 69, run out pushing for two, the partnership with Keogh finishing 156.
A trio of boundaries in as many deliveries from Keogh in the 45th over pushed him towards three figures, a milestone he passed in the 47th as he pulled Abbas to the fine leg fence. His second List A century coming in just 84 deliveries with 10 boundaries. Keogh fell for the cause shortly after, his lofted drive failing to clear the man at long off. His job was done though, and after a brief cameo of 12 from 6 by Procter the Steelbacks finished 290 for 6.
Northamptonshire found regular wickets during the Foxes reply, the first coming courtesy of a spectacular diving catch by Vasconcelos off Sanderson in the fourth over. Sanderson had his second wicket in his next over when he trapped Munsey in front for six. Cosgrove and Ackerman showed some resistance before Procter had the breakthrough, Cosgrove looking to launch the all-rounder back over his head but losing his off stump instead.
Another partnership began to develop but Buck intervened, dismissing both set batsman in the same over to reduce the Foxes to 95-5. With two new men at the crease the Foxes began to fall further behind the rate. Javid was bowled by Hutton in the 37th over, his first wicket of the season after missing a number of games through injury. Taylor attempted to ramp Procter but offered a simple catch to Hutton at 45. Buck had his third when Mike drove a well executed slower ball straight to Cobb at mid off. Vasconcelos capped off a good day behind the stumps, collecting a throw from Procter and diving back to the stumps to see Klein short of his ground. Leicestershire’s tail found the boundary on a few occasions in the latter overs, but the damage had been done, Northamptonshire winning by 29 runs.
Northamptonshire 290/6 (50) (Keogh 102, Curran 69) defeated Leicestershire 261/9 (50) (Buck 3/44, Procter 2/51). Full scorecard.
The Steelbacks final game of the Royal London One Day Cup is the Briggs & Forrester Community Day against Notts on Monday. Entry is free! Claim your free tickets online in advance.