Derbyshire Second XI and Leicestershire Second XI shared the spoils in two Twenty20 fixtures at The 3aaa County Ground on Friday, with both sides winning one game each.
In the first fixture, Captain Alex Hughes chose to bat first and the hosts made a good start through Ben Slater who hit 65 from 48 balls before he was third man out on 123 with five overs remaining.
Hughes had come in at four and continued to score heavily, hitting four fours and two sixes on his way to 47 from 33 deliveries. Shiv Thakor added late impetus to the innings, scoring 27 not out from 15 balls, as the hosts finished on 166-5 from their 20 overs.
Leicestershire got off to a quick start thanks to Aadil Ali (40) and Lewis Hill (55) but two quick wickets to Ben Cotton (2-24) and Thakor (2-16) reduced the visitors from 102-1 to 110-3 and put Derbyshire in the ascendancy.
The required rate continued to climb and two more wickets fell in quick succession while only run was added to leave Leicestershire on 141-5, needing 26 from 10 balls. They threatened to reach the unlikely target but fell two runs short to hand Derbyshire a one-run win.
In game two, Derbyshire batted first again but fell to 52-3 in the 10th over. But Tom Milnes hit 54 off 39 balls, including six fours, and shared a 55-run stand with Jonathan Tattersall (11 not out) as Derbyshire hit 123-5 off their allotted overs.
The bowlers responded well by reducing Leicestershire to 26-3 in the sixth over, with Milnes (2-14) and Ben Cotton (1-13) claiming the wickets. Hill, however, was in fine form hitting his second half-century off the day before ending the innings unbeaten on 65 off 52 balls.
He was assisted by Ali who hit 26 as the visitors reached their victory target in the final over with six wickets in hand.
View Game One scorecard HERE.
View Game Two scorecard HERE.
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