Gloucestershire 315 for 6 (Roderick 104, Jones 87, Klinger 50) beat Leicestershire 314 (Aadil 84, Burgess 49, Taylor 42*, Smith 3-45) by one run
Scorecard
Outstanding fielding made the difference as Gloucestershire made it two wins in as many games in an exciting finish to a wonderful Royal London Cup game at Grace Road.
Leicestershire had looked dead and buried when they subsided to 128 for 5 chasing 316 to win, before a partnership of 96 in 13.3 overs between 20-year-old Aadil Ali (84 from 86 balls) and 21-year-old Michael Burgess (49 from 44) dragged the Foxes back into the game.
Rob Taylor then hit an unbeaten 42 from just 23 balls, leaving Clint McKay required to hit three off the last ball to win the game. The Australian drove David Payne hard towards extra cover, but Gloucestershire captain Michael Klinger pulled off a fine diving stop and a run-out, restricting the hosts to just a single.
Gloucestershire beat Derbyshire off the final ball in their previous game and Klinger said it was "nice" to win some tight matches for a change.
``We lost our discipline a bit towards the end with our bowling, and we knew they could bat all the way down, but David Payne bowled a tight last over,'' said Klinger, who had earlier lost one of his bowlers, James Fuller, who had to be withdrawn from the attack after bowling consecutive beamers - the second time this season the young pace bowler has had to be withdrawn from the attack.
"James does not mean to bowl beamers, but it is the second time he's done it this season and it gives me something else to worry about," said Klinger.
Gloucestershire scored quickly from the start after being put in by Foxes skipper Mark Cosgrove. Gareth Roderick, initially in company with Chris Dent and then with Klinger, paced his innings superbly, taking full advantage of some loose bowling and fielding by the hosts to go to his century off 114 balls.
Geraint Jones took up the attack in style, hitting a List A career-best 87 off 61 balls in his 205th appearance before being caught at long-on off McKay, comfortably the pick of the Leicestershire bowlers with 2 for 31. Benny Howell kept the momentum going with an unbeaten 28 off 17.
Cosgrove, Angus Robson and Ned Eckersley all gave their wickets away cheaply after getting in, but youngsters Ali and Burgess - the latter making his home debut - played without apparent nerves, and Ali looked unfortunate to be given out caught behind off after a half-hearted appeal.
Taylor hit out strongly but lost the strike off the final ball, and Klinger's excellent fielding saw the visitors home.
"We know we're going in the right direction, and it was tough not to get over the line, but the bottom line is we have to get results. Even so, we'll take alot of confidence into the match against Yorkshire on Monday,'' Burgess said.
