Champions thrashed in opener

Leicestershire Foxes were bowled out for 96 in a calamitous start to the defence of their Friends Life t20 title against Nottinghamshire Outlaws at Grace Road.

It was the Foxes' lowest ever score in a competition they have won three times, and the Outlaws romped to victory by six wickets with seven overs to spare. Former Foxes star, James Taylor, clinched the win hitting 16 off six balls with four boundaries in an over off Wayne White.

Outlaws seamer Steve Mullaney claimed career-best Twenty20 figures of four for 19 off his four overs, picking up the wickets of Ramnaresh Sarwan, Matt Boyce, Kadeer Ali and Rob Taylor.

Although the pitch always had something in it for the bowlers, it was a disappointing performance by the Foxes, who were dismissed in just 17.3 overs after being put into bat. The hosts lost their last five wickets for 31 runs as they fell well short of posting anything like a competitive target.

Sarwan and Wayne White top-scored with 13 each, and the extras column also added another 13 runs. Opener Josh Cobb looked in good form when he struck two successive fours off Darren Pattinson, only to be bowled by the next delivery. That set the tone of the Foxes innings.

Jacques du Toit was lbw playing across the line and both Sarwan and Boyce popped up easy return catches to Mullaney. Abdul Razzaq never settled and was trapped lbw by Samit Patel for five, and although White hit the left-arm spinner for six he was then bowled by the next ball as the wickets continued to tumble.

Adam Voges finished things off by dismissing Claude Henderson and Matthew Hoggard to claim his first wickets in the competition for the Outlaws, and leave his side with an easy target to chase.

Hoggard picked up the early wickets of Alex Hales and Riki Wessels, but there was never any danger of the Outlaws missing out and Michael Lumb (25 not out) and Taylor saw them safely over the line with little trouble after handy contributions from Voges and Patel.

In the South group, the match between Kent and Sussex was abandoned without a ball bowled. The game had already been switched on Monday from flooded Tunbridge Wells to Kent's headquarters, but persistent rain throughout the day left the outfield and surrounds of the square extremely wet.

Umpires Rob Bailey and Tim Robinson carried out a couple of inspections but with drizzle in the air and little chance of the ground drying out the match was abandoned 15 minutes before the scheduled 7pm start.