County start with a defeat

SOL Budinger equalled the fastest half-century in Vitality Blast history, from 15 balls, as Derbyshire were well beaten by Leicestershire in their competition opener at the Uptonsteel County Ground on Friday night.

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Budinger’s fireworks in what was, from Derbyshire’s point of view, an awful start to the Foxes’ innings, ensured the home side had few alarms in chasing down the Falcons’ 170-6, which represented a recovery from 51-5 after they lost four wickets in the power play, thanks to a sixth-wicket stand of 76 from Martin Andersson (70 not out, 46 balls) and Ross Whiteley (37, 27).

"It’s always frustrating to lose because you always want to get off to a flying start and we are very confident in the squad we have," said Andersson.

"From the position we were in we managed to get up to a competitive score. I was pleased to score some runs. It’s nice when you have a game plan and it works out well.

"But if you look at the swing in the game, we were 39-4 and they were 84-1. That's a 45-run swing in a medium scoring game.

"We spoke about it after the game. They adapted their bowling to the pitch. We didn’t adapt as a batting unit and that decided the game really."