Leading the bowling attack for the Leicestershire Foxes during their win over Worcestershire Rapids at New Road was Afghanistan pacer Naveen-ul-Haq, who recorded his career-best T20 figures of 5/11 from four overs as the Foxes successfully defended a total of 162.
His wickets include that of Brett D'Oliveira and the overseas duo of Colin Munro and Dwayne Bravo. He also dismissed the tailenders of the game as the Rapids were dismissed for 136 runs in 19 overs.
This was the Foxes' third win in four games, with their newfound form taking them to fourth on the points table. All of their wins have come on the road — against Yorkshire, Birmingham Bears, and now Worcestershire. They were helped by poor shot selection from the Worcestershire's batters as the home side remained in the bottom spot after their fifth defeat in six games.
None of the Leicestershire batters touch the half-century mark, but were regular with their shots and picked up crucial runs for their team. Leading the line was opener Hamish Rutherford, a former Worcestershire player himself. He went after scoring 29 runs in 34 balls.
Leicestershire T20 captain Colin Ackermann was dismissed off a fine catch by Josh Baker running from the third man off the bowling of Barnard. Their saving grace was the 59 that came off the last five overs thanks to Rishi Patel's 37 from 25 balls. He was the team's highest run-getter, followed by Aaron Lilley's 32 runs in 20 at a strike rate of 160.
With a relatively small target to chase down. D'Oliveira gave his team a strong start with 25 off 13 balls, including five boundaries before he was dismissed by Naveen, his first wicket of the night. New Zealand batter Munro, who is the Rapids' leading scorer this summer, was caught behind on one after aiming to cut Naveen.
Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals and Jack Haynes went lbw to Parkinson aiming across the line at 91 for 5. Parkinson struck again when Ben Cox picked out deep cover and Bravo was lbw to Naveen who cleaned up the innings by sending back Dillon Pennington and Barnard, who top-scored with 27.
