Leicestershire 200 for 2 (Inglis 103*) beat Northamptonshire 166 for 7 (Keogh 50*, Parkinson 2-19) by 34 runs
Josh Inglis struck a T20 career-best 103 not out as Leicestershire beat Northamptonshire by 34 runs to record a first Vitality Blast win of the campaign.
The Australian thrashed four sixes and 13 fours in a stunning 62-ball knock, sharing a century stand with skipper Colin Ackerman for the third wicket as the previously winless Foxes piled up 200 for 2. Callum Parkinson, with 2 for 19, and Gavin Griffiths, 2 for 23, made sure still winless Northamptonshire fell well short, finishing 166 for 7 despite an unbeaten 50 from Rob Keogh.
Inglis dominated from the get go, his six over midwicket off Ben Sanderson in the second over a sign of things to come.
Fellow opener Scott Steel left early after splicing Tom Taylor to mid-off and the hosts were left to regret skipper Adam Rossington missing a chance to stump the new batsman Arron Lilley when he'd made just 12, Nabi the unlucky bowler.
Lilley made the most of the reprieve, hitting Graeme White for successive sixes, the second landing in a nearby garden, as he made 44 off 29 balls in a second wicket stand of 67 with Inglis before holing out at mid-off.
Inglis, starved of strike during that stand, picked up where he'd left off, going to 50 off with a glorious straight six off White. With Ackerman content to play second fiddle, Inglis unfurled nine more fours, finding all parts of the boundary in a stellar display of improvisation. He would also outdo team-mate Lilley in smiting the biggest six of the day before dinking Sanderson over fine leg to reach three figures in the final over.
The Steelbacks soon lost skipper Rossington when he sliced one skywards to backward point from the bowling of Parkinson. Richard Levi responded by bludgeoning Ackerman over the ropes at cow corner, but the visitors struck again when Naveen-ul-Haq produced a brute of a yorker which struck Ricardo Vasconcelos on the foot leaving him plumb lbw.
Levi was castled by a flighted delivery from Ackerman before Griffiths struck twice in three balls, removing Wayne Parnell for 15 and Saif Zaib for a duck to leave the hosts 69 for 5. Nabi hit a six onto the pavilion roof and Keogh reached his half-century from the last ball of the match, but the game was long gone.
