Chesney Hughes hit 59 from 44 balls, but it was Leicestershire Foxes who came out on top in the East Midlands derby at Grace Road.
Derbyshire closed on 163-6 as they were put into the bat in the second NatWest T20 Blast fixture of the season, with Hughes and Billy Godleman (38 not out) putting on a sixth-wicket stand of 66 to help the visitors recover from 78-5.
Ben Cotton (1-29) dismissed the dangerous Mark Cosgrove in the third over but the hosts recovered well to reach 85-1 at just over the halfway stage.
David Wainwright (1-25) and Wes Durston (1-27) took wickets in successive overs to give Derbyshire hope, but an unbroken stand of 69 between Niall O’Brien (47*) and Grant Elliott (21*) guided Leicestershire to 164-3 with six balls to spare.
Derbyshire return to The 3aaa County Ground next Friday for their first home NatWest T20 Blast fixture versus Lancashire Lightning; 7pm start.
After losing the toss, Durston started the innings off well for Derbyshire as he scored three boundaries off the bowling of Sheikh in just the third over.
Hashim Amla fell for eight early on but Derbyshire put themselves in a good position to build, reaching 56-1 inside the first six overs.
Captain Durston was caught behind for 26 off just 16 balls off the bowling of Kevin O’Brien, which triggered a flurry of wickets in the middle overs.
The spin bowling of Jigar Naik saw off Shiv Thakor, Scott Elstone and Tom Poynton in quick succession to leave Derbyshire in trouble at 78-5.
But a brilliant partnership of 66 between Chesney Hughes and Godleman, who made an unbeaten 38 from 33 balls, helped Derbyshire recover to 144-6.
15.0: #FIFTY! @ChesneyH22 cuts one for four to bring up his 50 from 37 balls. Well played Ches! #LEIvDER #P2bD pic.twitter.com/3I13Ik8lDH
— Derbyshire CCC (@DerbyshireCCC) May 22, 2015
Ben Raine and Clint McKay bowled tightly in the closing stages before untimely no-balls in Raine’s final over allowed Derbyshire to close on a competitive 163-6.
Leicestershire started well with Mark Cosgrove and Ned Eckersley exchanging boundaries in the opening two overs, before Cotton had Cosgrove caught at mid-off for eight by Amla.
Eckersley, helped by Kevin O’Brien, guided Leicestershire to 54-1 from the first six overs, as the hosts’ chase began brightly.
With Leicestershire keeping the scoreboard ticking over nicely, Wainwright took a timely wicket in the 11th over as he caught Eckersley off his bowling for a well-made 39.
Durston then dismissed Kevin O’Brien the following over, as the Irish World Cup hero was brilliantly caught in the deep by Greg Cork to leave Leicestershire on 95-3 with just over eight overs to go.
The experience of New Zealand international Elliott and Niall O’Brien helped to see off the remainder of Wainwright’s fine spell and Leicestershire required 45 runs to win from the final five overs.
But Leicestershire finished strongly and three successive boundaries from O’Brien (47 not out) off the penultimate over saw Leicestershire home with an over to spare.
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Derbyshire return to The 3aaa County Ground next Friday for their first home NatWest T20 Blast fixture versus Lancashire Lightning; 7pm start.
To buy your NatWest T20 Blast tickets, please call 0871 350 1870 or CLICK HERE.
