DERBY: Pakistan left-arm pacer Akif Javed and skipper Aneurin Donald produced a brilliant innings to help Derbyshire win by 7 wickets against Leicestershire in the Vitality Blast at the County Ground on Sunday.
Although Derbyshire won, they and Leicestershire were officially eliminated from the competition. Both teams sit in Group North with three wins each from 12 matches, Derbyshire have lost seven games and Leicestershire have suffered nine defeats.
Chasing a target of 172, Derbyshire reached the target with the loss of just 3 wickets in 14.3 overs. Donald scored 91 off 38 balls with 7 fours and 7 sixes to win the match.
Harry Cam remained unbeaten on 45 off 28 balls with 2 fours and 2 sixes while Martin Anderson scored 16 off 13 balls including a four and a six.
Matthew Montgomery added 12 runs from six balls, including a boundary, while Wayne Madsen scored two runs.
Rehan Ahmed took 2 wickets and Josh Davey took one wicket for Leicestershire.
Earlier, Leicestershire were 171-8 in 20 overs with Ashton Turner scoring a fluent 79 off 43 balls that included 6 fours and 3 sixes.
Captain Ben Green gave a solid start with 34 off 29 balls with 4 fours and a six, while Joey Evison remained unbeaten on 26 off 19 balls including 2 fours.
The rest of the batting line-up struggled to make an impact. Stephen Eskinassi was bowled for 3 runs while Rehan Ahmed, Ruan De Swart and Rishi Patel scored two runs each.
Ben Cox added four runs, Josh Davey nine runs and Josh Hull two runs.
Akif was Derbyshire’s best bowler, returning excellent figures of 4/23 from his four overs. Matthew Montgomery provided excellent support with three wickets while Sufyan Moghim claimed one wicket.