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Solanki saves the day

Worcestershire (197-7) bt Leicestershire (186-9) by 11 runs.

No amount of fancy dress from the marketing men can prevent one-day cricket from being utterly tedious when it is played on pitches as sluggish as this one on which Worcestershire maintained their challenge for the First Division title.

The CGU National League was specifically designed to attract a ``new audience'' but games as attritional as this strain the loyalty of even diehard supporters. Grace Road was appropriately cast into gloom by the time Leicestershire's attempt to score 36 runs off the last five overs was frustrated by Richard Illingworth.

Leicestershire were revived from 30 for four by Aftab Habib, Paul Nixon, Jon Dakin and Dominic Williamson but acceleration proved beyond them and Worcestershire made it five wins in six games to move to within two points of leaders Lancashire with a match in hand.

Worcestershire, who won the toss, soon discovered how difficult it was to force the pace on this grudging surface as Philip Weston sliced to first slip, Graeme Hick and Elliott Wilson fell to tentative pushes and David Leatherdale was betrayed by a freak ball which stopped on him.

Only Vikram Solanki, in the best form of his life, approached fluency, hitting seven fours in his 63 before he was unluckily run out as Dominic Wilson deflected a straight drive from Stuart Lampitt into the stumps.