Leicestershire Foxes put on a statement showing against Staffordshire in a T20 friendly, racking up 300-7 on their way to securing a 250-run win.
An opening stand of 99 inside the powerplay began the carnage, Sol Budinger dominating the scoring with 60 from 20 balls, more than half of which were deposited for four or six. He fell to the final ball of the sixth over, but Rishi Patel carried on, top-scoring with 96. His innings included six sixes off an over.
Louis Kimber contributed 45 from 16 at No.3, with useful cameos coming from Liam Trevaskis (13 off 8), Ben Mike (29 off 11), and Netherlands international Logan van Beek (24 off 17).
Leicestershire’s third century came up in the final over. While the game is not an official T20, it far exceeded the record score for such a game in England - Somerset’s 265-5 against Derbyshire Falcons in 2022. Only three sides anywhere have breached 300 in an official T20.
In response, Roman Walker and Sam Wood did the bulk of the damage, claiming seven wickets between them. Only one Staffordshire batter made it into double figures.
The game was the second of two played between the sides on the day, with the first a marginally closer affair. In that game, Staffordshire posted 126-8 batting first, with Leicestershire reaching the target with eight overs to spare.
The National Counties, comprising the 20 counties who do not have first-class status, have resumed playing matches against first-class counties in recent seasons. To begin with, these were 50-over affairs ahead of the One-Day Cup, but they now include T20 games.
Leicestershire finished one place off the quarter-final spots in the 2024 T20 Blast. They are three-time winners of the competition, in 2004, 2006 and 2011.
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