Foxes and Dynamos suffer washout

Date: Friday 16 July 2010

Leicestershire Foxes' Friends Provident t20 qualification hopes took a blow as the game against Durham Dynamos at Grace Road was washed out.

At the time of writing, the Foxes still have a mathematical chance of qualifiying, but if Derbyshire Phantoms beat Northamptonshire Steelbacks in the 7pm start, then the team will be eliminated from the competition.

However, if the Steelbacks have a narrow win or the game is washed out, the Foxes will still have a chance going into the last game against Warwickshire Bears on Sunday.

There was simply no chance of play here.

Umpires Trevor Jesty and Tim Robinson conducted numerous inspections throughout the evening but every time they looked, another heavy downpour was just around the corner.

One extremely sharp burst of rain effectively put paid to the match at around 6pm, and it was officially called off at 6.40pm.

With fourth placed Derbyshire meeting fifth placed Northamptonshire in a 7pm start under the floodlights in Derby, the Foxes badly needed the two points to make inroads into the final qualification place.

You can't account for the weather though and although the team registered their first home point of the campaign, that will come as little consolation as the win was required.

The rain usually comes across over the electronic scoreboard and with that scene miserable and grey for most of the evening, the writing was on the wall from an early stage.

The covers were on at the scheduled time of the toss and the situation was simply no good to either side. Like in last year's format where the winner took the path to the quarter finals, nothing less than two points would suffice for either side.

However, these circumstances were completely different. While both teams were in good form going into that deciding game 2009, the Foxes were yet to register a home win before the game and Durham's results have been patchy since Ross Taylor returned to New Zealand.

Like the Foxes, the Dynamos really needed to win their final two matches and hope for an improbable set of results around the country while although Leicestershire's chances were better, that window of opportunity was only slightly wider as the Foxes were a point ahead of their rivals.

The washout meant the Dynamos were officially out of the reckoning and the Foxes now need the Steelbacks to beat the Falcons or hope the weather intervenes, as it did at Grace Road.