Leicestershire Clinches Quarter-Final Spot with 4 Wickets Victory over Gloucestershire
Leicestershire defeat Gloucestershire by four wickets in the Metro Bank One Day Cup 2024 thanks to exceptional performances from Ajinkya Rahane and Peter Handscomb.
The Foxes’ victory not only put them in second place in Group B but also guaranteed them a quarterfinal matchup at home against Hampshire.
Key Performances and Match Results
Gloucestershire 192 for 9 (Bancroft 36, Scriven 3-37) lost to Leicestershire 199 for 6 (Handscomb 65*, Rahane 62) by four wickets (DLS method).
At Bristol’s Seat Unique Stadium, Leicestershire defeated Gloucestershire by four wickets on the Duckworth/Lewis/Stern Method to secure a spot in the Metro Bank One Day Cup quarterfinals. Ajinkya Rahane and Peter Handscomb put on an incredible match-winning partnership of 120.
With 14 balls remaining, the Foxes achieved their sixth victory in six Group B games, chasing a revised target of 196 in a match that was cut short due to rain to 36 overs per side. Handscomb and Rahane, who batted at the fourth wicket, scored 65 not out and 62 respectively.
Handscomb, who has already amassed two hundreds in the competition this season, continued his rich vein of form, hitting five fours and two sixes in an exquisitely-judged innings off seventy balls. Louis Kimber added a rapid twenty-eight balls to ensure the result was certain as Leicestershire rallied from 19 for 3 to win with plenty remaining.
Under low cloud cover and on a worn-out surface, Gloucestershire struggled to form partnerships and ended up with a total of 192 for 9, with Cameron Bancroft topping the score with 36.
With seamer Tom Scriven taking three wickets for 37 from seven overs and Liam Trevaskis and Alex Green sharing two wickets each in a controlled effort with the ball, Leicestershire made the most of the wet conditions.
With their victory, the reigning champions Leicestershire were able to finish second in Group B. As a result, they will play Hampshire at home in the quarterfinals on Friday, rematching the final from the previous season.
Gloucestershire, riding high on four victories in five games, were helped along by an opening partnership of fifty runs in 10.4 overs between Bancroft and Miles Hammond. However, things rapidly turned around when Scriven was sent on, as he bowled Hammond for 19 to start a collapse that cost the home team seven wickets and 95 runs in just eighteen overs.
The rain returned, which made it very harder for Gloucestershire to win; after 12 overs, the players were forced to leave the field with the score at 55 for 1. After four overs were missed, play eventually started, and Bancroft and replacement batter Joe Phillips had to act quickly to salvage the situation.
Leicestershire then took advantage of favorable conditions to seize power. Feeling agitated by his lack of progress, Bancroft attempted an expansive on-drive against Scriven, but Handscomb made a stunning diving catch at mid-on. Bancroft had progressed to 36 from 51 balls.
The hosts were reduced to 76 for 3 when young seamer Green had Phillips, who had scored 10 off 32 balls, trapped by Rahane at mid-wicket.
The defending champions kept up the pressure, with Gloucestershire’s skipper holing out to short fine leg for eight as slow left armer Trevaskis lured dangerman Jack Taylor into a poor shot. James Bracey was removed by Scriven for eighteen, when the left-hander was caught by Handscomb for another excellent catch at mid-on, leaving Gloucestershire at 109-5 and in danger of losing.
Irish international Curtis Campher signaled his arrival with two consecutive sixes at the expense of Green with 11 overs remaining to make an impact. However, after hitting 21 from 14 balls—a total equaled by Ben Charlesworth when he was bowled by Trevaskis—he was caught at the wicket off the bowling of Roman Walker.
Graeme van Buuren and Tom Smith, the Gloucestershire veterans, used their vast experience to put together a healing partnership of 32 runs in 6.1 overs for the ninth wicket, leaving them to pick up the pieces. In the penultimate over, Green had van Buuren held in the deep for 17 runs, with Smith finishing at 27 not out from 23 balls.
Despite being severely weakened by injuries and being called up to The Hundred and the England Lions, the Gloucestershire bowling team got off to a brilliant start when Josh Shaw removed Ian Holland and Lewis Hill without conceding a run with his first and fifth deliveries.
In the sixth over, fellow seamer Dom Goodman also got in on the action as Foxes lost 19-3, needing a further 177 runs at 5.8 an over and already heavily depending on Rahane and Handscomb. Sol Budinger mistimed a pull shot and holed out to mid-on.
Leicestershire’s fourth wicket partnership exploited Gloucestershire’s lack of seam options when they sought refuge in Charlesworth for the first time this season, putting pressure back on the home team. They also saw off new ball bowlers and punished the odd poor delivery during tight spells from Smith and Campher.
As the needed rate dropped to five an over for the first time, Handscomb needed seven fewer balls to reach 50 than Rahane did, who reached his half century first in 59 deliveries and established the 100 partnership in the process.
Rahane’s 76-ball innings came to a sudden end when Hammond took a catch at short extra off the bowling of Smith, giving Gloucestershire the much-needed breakthrough. Rahane had amassed seven fours and a pair of sixes. However, Kimber quickly crushed van Buuren for 23 in one over, helping himself to three sixes and a four, virtually killing any chance of a West Country comeback.
