Harvey and White star in Northants win

Rob White got the Northants innings off to an explosive start with 40 from 15 balls

Australian veteran Ian Harvey made an instant impact on his debut with a four-wicket haul to help Northamptonshire defeat Warwickshire by 17 runs in their Twenty20 Cup clash at Wantage Road.

The 37-year-old was only snapped up by the Steelbacks on Friday and made 12 runs before Keith Barker claimed his wicket.

Yet with fellow opener Rob White smashing a spectacular 40 runs off just 15 balls the home team were able to seat a reasonable total of 176.

Harvey then showed his class with the ball taking the wickets of the dangerous Jim Troughton (53), skipper Ian Westwood (four), Steffan Piolet for a duck and Richard Johnson, also without scoring, to finish with figures of 4-18 from four overs.

White smashed the Bears’ attack all over the park as he hit eight boundaries and one six to put his side on course for a large total.

But he went for one shot too many off the bowling off Keith Barker and he was easily caught by Chris Woakes near the boundary before Harvey soon followed.

And despite a strong third-wicket stand of 72 by Niall O’Brien and Nicky Boje, Northamptonshire failed to maintain their early momentum.

Boje top-scored for the Steelbacks with 45, but he was eventually clean-bowled by Ant Botha before New Zealand spinner Jeetan Patel claimed two quickfire wickets, Riki Wessels and Andrew Hall, to finish with figures of 2-29.

O’Brien’s steady innings of 42 came to an end when he skied Piolet to the waiting Frost but Johan van der Wath (22 not out) added some late runs.

The visitors started their reply cautiously and David Lucas made the breakthrough when he removed Jonathan Trott for 16 with an excellent delivery in the third over.

This brought Troughton to the crease and he helped to get the Bears’ innings off the ground with a flurry of fours.

Neil Carter was stumped by O’Brien off the bowling of Boje when he was on 25 and soon the Bears wickets started tumbling.

Harvey’s second over saw Westwood caught on the boundary before he trapped Troughton leg before.

Needing 55 runs from the final five overs, the Bears never looked like mounting a fightback and Harvey along with Hall (2-29) were able to see Northamptonshire home as Warwickshire could only reach 159 for eight.