Opener Nick Welch smashed an unbeaten 127 from 125 balls and Wiaan Mulder hit an unbeaten 71 as Leicestershire kicked off their Royal London Cup campaign with a comfortable win over a very inexperienced Surrey side which included no capped players.

Ben Geddes hit 73 in a total of 246-8 which was never likely to be enough on a fast scoring ground .

Quick bowler Beuran Hendricks took 4-39 after nipping out both Ryan Patel and Cameron Steele in a new ball burst of 2-14 in five overs. Despite losing Rishi Patel for nought at the end of the second over, Welch and Mulder saw the visitors home.

Leicestershire won the toss and elected to put Surrey in to bat  at the delightful Guildford Cricket Club.

A capacity crowd of 2,000 saw a wicket fall in the second over when Ryan Patel(0) was trapped leg before to South African Beuran Hendricks’s second ball.

The impressive South African’s opening spell continued when Cam Steele(9) edged behind to leave Surrey 20-2 in the sixth over.

Youngsters Ben Geddes and Josh Blake rallied the home side round, with Geddes skipper for the day bringing up his half century coming off 60 balls including seven fours. The pair added 105 for the third wicket before Blake(44) was trapped plumb in front leg before off spinner Arron Lilley.

A fine captains knock from Geddes of 73 was ended when the returning Chris Wright had Geddes mistime a pull straight down long on’s throat. The skipper for the day knew he had given away a fantastic chance of a hundred but had given Surrey a firm platform to build on.

Tom Lawes(21) looked comfortable at the crease before being bowled by Tom Scriven. There was also useful contributions from Nick Kimber(27) and a fine unbeaten 45 from Nico Reifer  in between Hendricks picking up the wickets of Kimber and Conor McKerr to finish with 4-39 of his 10 overs, with Surrey finishing on 246-8.

In pursuit of their target Leicestershire soon lost opener Rishi Patel(0) in the third over after he was picked up at point off Lawes. Despite the early loss of Patel, Nick Welch and Louis Kimber quickly added 63 runs in eight overs before Kimber(22) was caught at mid on by his brother off Conor McKerr’s third ball.

Leicestershire were beginning to take the game away from Surrey who turned to young academy left arm spinner 18-year-old Yousef Majid. With the Cranleigh School students fifth delivery he trapped the visitors captain Lewis Hill(17) leg before.

Wiaan Mulder joined Welch in the middle with the pair taking Leicestershire  to victory with ten overs remaining. Welch finished un beaten on 127 including 16 fours and one six with Mulder on 71 coming off 65 balls including eight fours and two sixes, with the pair putting on an unbroken stand of 141 for the fourth wicket which was a Leicestershire record against Surrey in List A cricket.

Surrey     vs   Leicestershire

                    Royal London One Day Cup  Tuesday 2^nd August 2022

                                         Surrey  246-8 (50)           Leicestershire  248-3 (40)

                                     Leicestershire won by seven wickets

                                     Peter Moore at Guildford

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