Leicestershire Squeeze Past Gloucestershire by Two Wickets

Leicestershire Foxes edged out Gloucestershire by two wickets with 10 balls to spare in a Metro Bank One-Day Cup opener at Kibworth Cricket Club that had at times hung in the balance.

Wicketkeeper Ben Cox made 51 from 59 balls and South African international Ruan de Swardt 42 from 53 after Rishi Patel hit seven fours and a six in his 42-ball 39, Hamza Shaikh making 33 in his Foxes debut innings after moving from Warwickshire.  

Earlier, Cameron Bancroft’s 52-ball 40 had been Gloucestershire’s best score as Leicestershire produced a solid all-round bowling display to restrict them to 235, even after Daaryoush Ahmed (29) and Will Williams added 43 for the last wicket.  

Tall seamer Alex Green, who bagged three five-wicket hauls in this competition in 2025, took three for 53, although the stand-out performer with the ball was New Zealand left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel, who finished with two for 32 from 10 overs and later hit the winning boundary.

Choosing to bat first, Gloucestershire recovered from the sixth-ball loss of James Bracey to be 54 from two after 10 after Ben Green trapped Ollie Price leg before for 36 from 24 balls.  

Bancroft cashed in after being dropped in the slips on three, lifting Ben Green for two sixes but Miles Hammond, caught behind by a diving Cox, became a first victim in Leicestershire colours for De Swardt’s medium pace.  

Ajaz Patel, who had put down Bancroft, needed only seven deliveries with the ball to claim his wicket as the former Australia Test opener fell leg before.  

Patel also bowled former England Under-19 batter Joe Eckland on his Gloucestershire debut and his control was key as Gloucestershire struggled to regain momentum.

Kamran Dhariwal’s List A debut knock ended when Ian Holland (2-36) had him caught behind before Alex Green, who took five Gloucestershire wickets at Bristol in last year’s One-Day Cup, picked up three more.  

He ran the length of the pitch to pouch a top-edge as Jack Taylor went for 36 from 56 before bowling Graeme Van Buuren and pinning Aman Rao, another on his List A debut, leg before.

Needing 4.72 per over, the Foxes were 51 for two after 10, skipper Stephen Eskinazi falling caught at slip off the glove, Holland being run out.  

Gloucestershire removed two key batters in Rishi Patel, who miscued Ahmed to wide long-on, and Jonny Tattersall, superbly snared at backward point, but Leicestershire were well up with the rate.  

Taylor joined the attack and dismissed Shaikh with his second ball, leaving the Foxes 136 for five, with more twists to come.  

Cox and De Swardt added 55 only for the latter, stepping out of his crease as the umpire pondered an appeal for caught behind, to be run out by the quick-thinking Bracey.  When Ben Green was caught and bowled by Van Buuren, the outcome was back in the balance.  

Cox, having hit six fours, was caught on the leg side boundary but Ajaz Patel, though riding his luck at times, clinched victory.