LEICESTERSHIRE once again overcame their profligacy with extras to demolish Kent, whose attack was broken by an unbeaten 93 from Darren Maddy, continuing his golden form in this competition.
On a pitch with a greenish top and an unpredictable nature, Maddy so overcame the earlier dominance of the bowlers that Leicestershire cruised into the semi-finals with nearly 13 overs to spare.
He has now scored 504 runs in six games in the cup, twice reaching his hundred, with an average of 126, and yesterday took the Gold Award for the fourth time.
For one brief moment Kent threatened a comeback after they had been bowled out for a paltry 158. Mark Ealham claimed two wickets in four balls but Maddy was then joined by Phil Simmons and in 12 overs they sealed the outcome with a blistering partnership of 71.
Maddy survived two chances in an innings which was marked in the earlier stages by a wonderful square upper-cut for six off Ben Phillips and then later by a short-arm pull off Matthew Fleming which put the ball over square leg and beyond the trees into the practice area.
Towards the end, with weather threatening to interrupt the victory trot, Maddy was prepared to take the aerial route to everything and a majority of his 12 boundaries came over the top. His third-ball dismissal on his England debut in the Texaco Trophy last week seems to have done nothing to his confidence.
Simmons enjoyed himself with the ball as much as the bat. He has been carrying a side strain but produced by far his best figures in the competition, taking five for 33.
But individual performances of such note will not forever carry Leicestershire onwards. As this competition approaches its denouement the issue of runs unnecessarily given away becomes ever more crucial and unless their coach, Jack Birkenshaw, can rid his bowling machine of this self-inflicted bug they will inevitably self-destruct.
Three weeks ago the county conceded an unwanted competition record of 53 extras, including 34 runs in wides, but still managed to beat Warwickshire in the zonal round. Now Leicestershire surpassed themselves with 55 extras, giving Kent the equivalent of 5.5 more overs.
This time there were 24 runs in wides (Alan Mullally giving away 11 of them) and 20 in no-balls with James Ormond and the medium-paced Simmons the chief offenders. Extras and Carl Hooper's 60 accounted for around 70 per cent of Kent's total.
Kent, put in to bat, were always struggling after Fleming had intemperately tried to attack too early on. Ormond, just recovered from an abscess on the base of his spine, bowled with fire down the slope and took three wickets in his seven overs.
Hooper and Ealham stemmed the tide with a 76-run stand but Ealham was caught off a skier, Simmons collected two wickets in successive balls and Hooper battled on alone to the end, last out when Maddy took a low sliding catch in the deep.
Hooper's 60 took him 102 balls and he showed his distrust of the pitch by sometimes getting so far forward to the ball that he was slipping and sliding as he tried to get back to the crease.