Ajinkya Rahane, Peter Handscomb, and Liam Trevaskis all scored half-centuries to help Leicester beat Hampshire by three wickets in a thrilling finish. With this win, the defending champions Leicester have reached the semi-finals of the Metro Bank One-Day Cup, just two steps away from defending their title.
Hampshire, batting first after losing the toss, set a challenging target of 290 runs from 50 overs, thanks to a brilliant century from captain Nick Gubbins and a half-century from Liam Dawson. Young Dominic Kelly also contributed with a quick 39 off 20 balls. For Leicester, Tom Scriven took three wickets, and Chris Wright grabbed two, keeping Hampshire below 300 runs.
In response, Leicester struggled early, losing three wickets for just 30 runs. However, Rahane and Handscomb’s century partnership, the third of the tournament for them, boosted the team’s confidence. Their partnership of 128 runs was broken by John Turner, who had already taken three wickets at the start of the innings.
Leicester’s innings faltered again, and by the 35th over, they were six wickets down for 188 runs. With 100 runs needed from the last 15 overs and only four wickets remaining, Trevaskis and Ben Cox added 94 runs in 82 balls to bring their team close to victory.
With nine runs needed from the last two overs, Cox, who had scored 45 off 50 balls, was out on the last ball of the 48th over. Leicester managed to chase down the target with just one ball remaining. On Sunday, Leicester will face Somerset in the first semi-final.
