Dominant Leicestershire Foxes’ Victory over Yorkshire Vikings in Vitality Blast 2024 Opener

Yorkshire 151 for 7 (Masood 45, Hull 3-28) were defeated by Leicestershire 155 for 3 (Budinger 50, Chohan 2-32) by seven wickets.

At Leicester’s Uptonsteel County Ground, the Leicestershire Foxes defeated the Yorkshire Vikings by seven wickets to begin their Vitality Blast season in spectacular fashion.

The previous evening, the Vikings had defeated Worcestershire Rapids by eight wickets to kick off the season, but they were severely tested in the East Midlands. They managed a disappointing 151 for 7, with Josh Hull’s explosive 3 for 28 severely hurting the team’s performance. Shan Masood, the captain, stood out with 45 off 32 balls.

After Foxes openers Sol Budinger (50 off 22) and Rishi Patel (30 off 18) blasted six sixes and six fours in the first five overs, the moderate mark quickly looked insignificant. With a stand of 79 for 36 balls, Foxes made the chase seem easy, racing to 155 for 3 from 14.1 overs.

Foxes elected to bowl first, and Hull used his size-15s to great effect, taking one wicket in an over that cost just one run and removed Dawid Malan, whose off stump was neatly clipped by a beautiful ball. In a calm opening over for Vikings, Ian Holland also went for only one.

Ben Mike, a former all-rounder from Yorkshire, got the opening ball when he returned a catch off Adam Lyth’s spliced slog. Joe Root took the field for the 659th time in his senior cricket career after that, and he didn’t have a particularly memorable knock—three off nine balls before he lifted Holland to long on.

Also Read: Worcestershire Rapids Clinch Thrilling Victory Over Lancashire Lightning in Vitality Blast 2024

Donovan Ferreira and Masood put up 50 runs in 35 balls before Hull returned and removed both of them in his first five deliveries. Masood top-edged a return catch, and Ferreira gloved an attempted pull high to wicketkeeper Ben Cox. The 6ft 7in left-armer’s extremely outstanding spell, which left the batters shocked by velocity, was partially responsible for both wickets.

Vikings were 116 for 7 when Hull added a brilliant catch at short fine leg to eliminate Dom Bess off Scott Currie. Although Mike was repeatedly hit for sixes by Jordan Thompson, the Vikings’ bowlers faced a challenging task on a decent batting pitch.

Patel and Budinger attacked them right away, hitting fifty off the first twenty-two balls. Before the fourth over from Thompson went for 30, including three sixes for Budinger, Patel lifted Dan Moriarty for consecutive sixes.

Patel skied Bess to long-on and Budinger sliced Jafer Chohan to backward point, ending the innings in five balls for both openers, but they had left their side requiring a comfortable 67 from 80 balls. With colorful cameos, Louis Kimber and Wiaan Milder maintained the pace, and Foxes captain Peter Handscomb could watch happily from the non-striker’s end as his team easily won.