Middlesex beat Leicestershire to win One Day Cup and end 36-year wait

Middlesex have won the Metro Bank One Day Cup, beating Leicestershire Foxes by 31 runs in a low-scoring final at Trent Bridge on Sunday to end a 36-year wait for a List A trophy.

Ryan Higgins made a maiden List A hundred — 115 balls, nine fours — and shared a 135-run sixth-wicket stand with Harry Duke (55) to steer Middlesex from 71 for five to 231 all out, after Leicestershire all-rounder Ian Holland took five for 36 and wicketkeeper Ben Cox held five catches.

Leicestershire’s chase never recovered from 79 for five despite New Zealand batter Nick Kelly’s 103 from 107 balls. Tom Helm claimed the key wicket of Kelly in a late spell of three for 32, while Toby Roland-Jones took three for 27 and 21-year-old Naayva Sharma three for 37 to finish as the competition’s leading wicket-taker with 20.

It is Middlesex’s first one-day trophy since they beat Derbyshire to lift the 1990 Refuge Assurance Cup, and a first final appearance in 36 years.

The defeat caps a difficult week for Leicestershire, who were deducted 27 points by the ECB for a poor pitch — a sanction that makes relegation back to Division Two almost certain — and had reached the final after Middlesex’s two-wicket comeback win over Ben Stokes’ Durham and their own semi-final win over the Notts Outlaws.

Sources

• Sky Sports: Metro Bank One Day Cup men’s final — Middlesex beat Leicestershire Foxes to end 36-year List A trophy wait
• The Times: Leicestershire fans chant ‘F*** the ECB’ as Middlesex end trophy drought
• ESPNcricinfo: Roland-Jones rolls back the years as Middlesex end long trophy drought