Sidebottom outfoxes Leicestershire

England seamer Ryan Sidebottom equalled his best bowling figures in Twenty20 cricket as he led Nottinghamshire Outlaws to a nine-wicket win over Leicestershire Foxes.

The 31-year-old showed all his international pedigree as he warmed up for the Ashes with 3-16 from four overs to limit the visitors to 123 for seven in their Twenty20 Cup match, Matthew Boyce top-scoring with 32.

Notts openers Ali Brown and Matt Wood then hit a new county record 119 for the first wicket as the hosts raced to the victory target in the 15th over at Trent Bridge.

Brown made his second consecutive half-century in the competition, blasting 72 off 48 balls with two sixes and nine fours, while Wood hit five fours on his way to 43 not out.

Ryan Sidebottom delivers a joint-best 3-16 in Nottinghamshire's nine-wicket win. The hosts took nine balls to score off him

Sidebottom opened the match with a maiden and it took until the ninth ball of the innings for Leicestershire to score a run off the bat, with Boyce then hitting three fours off Darren Pattinson.

While the opening partnership of Boyce and Jim Allenby registered their fourth successive fifty stand in the seventh over, only two more boundaries were struck in the rest of the innings as the Notts attack got completely on top.

Boyce departed when he miscued a reverse sweep off Samit Patel to Sidebottom at short third man, and Allenby then played on to Paul Franks in the next over.

Paul Nixon was bowled by Mark Ealham and captain Boeta Dippenaar was yorked by Patel attempting a powerful sweep, before Sidebottom returned to finish the innings in some style.

First Jacques Du Toit picked out Pattinson at long-off, and Wayne White was then lbw three balls later to a toe-crushing yorker.

Notts’ excellence in the field was further demonstrated in the final over, with wicketkeeper Chris Read taking a brilliant catch behind the stumps as Sidebottom found the edge of Claude Henderson’s flailing bat.

Although James Taylor launched the final ball for six over long-on, the Leicestershire total was made to look all too small by Brown and Wood, who hit boundaries at will to pass 50 after five overs and 100 after 10.

Brown was eventually well caught at long-off by Du Toit off Henderson, but Wood and Will Jefferson finished things off with 33 balls to spare.