A six-wicket win over Hampshire at the Ageas Bowl in the Royal London One-Day Cup looks a fairly straightforward result.
But Leicestershire Foxes had to take a circuitous route to get there after the weather threatened to wreck the game on the south coast.
Fortunately, the rain relented and having been set a revised Duckworth/Lewis target of 186 in 25 overs – Hampshire having originally posted 275-9 in their 50 overs – Niall O'Brien steered the Foxes home with a magnificent unbeaten 105 from just 72 balls.
Leicestershire started brightly and with James Sykes taking 3-24 they reduced the home side to 171-7 and there was a real prospect of the Foxes having to chase down a modest target of around 200.
However, Sean Terry dug in for his side and his 63, coupled with 27 from Chris Wood, saw the home side put a competitive score on the board.
It appeared as though it was all irrelevant, though, when early evening rain began to fall. However, it cleared in time to leave the Foxes their new target which O'Brien set about with relish.
He received good support from Greg Smith (34) in a second wicket stand of 95 but without the injured Scott Styris there was still plenty of work to be done down the finishing straight.
O'Brien, though, was the man of the moment and he hammered the first two deliveries of the final over for four and six, moving past three figures and banking the points in the process with four balls to spare.
The win took the Foxes into fourth place in Group A with the top four sides from the two qualifying stages moving into the quarter-finals later this month.
They now face Yorkshire Vikings at Grace Road tomorrow before Northants pay a visit on Sunday.
