Yorkshire Phoenix ran out of steam in the closing overs of a tightly contested Totesport League game at Grace Road yesterday when they lost by seven wickets to Leicestershire Foxes with 17 balls still remaining.

It was Yorkshire's second defeat in the competition this season but they still hold on to the third promotion place in the table, although defeat against the lowly Foxes came as a big disappointment.

Yorkshire were weakened through being without Phil Jaques (hamstring injury) and Matthew Hoggard (ankle injury), but they were still outsmarted on a slow pitch.

Tight bowling restricted Yorkshire to 172 for nine but their own attack also showed great accuracy and when Leicestershire were 132 for three with only seven overs remaining they still required a further 41 runs.

But captain Craig White gambled in taking off Anthony McGrath and bringing on off-spinner Richard Dawson for a second stint, and the move did not pay off because Indian left-hander Dinesh Mongia twice found the boundary in an over which cost 13 runs.

Dewsbury-born John Sadler also tortured his former county by hitting

consecutive fours through the covers off Tim Bresnan, who conceded 15

runs in the 42nd over as Leicestershire levelled the scores.

Former Undercliffe and Hanging Heaton player Sadler then hit the

winning boundary to take his side to 176 for three. Mongia finished unbeaten on 46 and Sadler 23, the fourth-wicket pair adding 58 off only 37 deliveries.

Yorkshire's Australian trialist Adam Warren bowled extremely well in his first competitive match to return figures of one for 35, his wicket coming when he had opener Darren Maddy smartly stumped by Ismail Dawood after he had put on 46 with young left- hander Tom New, who calmly hit 47 before being bowled by McGrath.

It may have been an even closer match if White had been able to bowl, but Yorkshire's leading wicket-taker was unable to enter the attack because of soreness in his knee.

Winning the toss, Yorkshire soon found themselves up against some of the tightest bowling they have come up against in the competition in a long while, and runs were always hard to come by after Ian Harvey and Matthew Wood had made a positive start with 31 from nine overs before Harvey drilled back a catch to Ottis Gibson and Wood was caught behind in the next over from Charl Willoughby.

McGrath and Michael Lumb applied themselves well to repair the situation but progress only came slowly as Leicestershire continued to keep it tight once the opening bowlers were rested.

The third-wicket pair had accumulated 67 from 20 overs when McGrath had his middle stump removed for 30 attempting a big hit, and the responsibility then rested upon Lumb's shoulders to make sure Yorkshire did not fold completely.

Richard Pyrah, coming in for his first match of the season in place of Jaques, got into double figures before being caught on the cover boundary and Yorkshire suffered a further blow with the first-ball dismissal of White, whose stumps were hit by left-arm spinner Mongia.

Lumb bravely made his way to his second half-century of the season off 89 balls and, although Yorkshire lost further wickets as they tried to increase the tempo, the left-hander remained unbeaten with 66 from 107 deliveries with five handsome boundaries.

l Centurions Martin Love and Usman Afzaal added an unbroken 227 but still finished losers as Middlesex edged a thrilling last-ball victory over North-amptonshire to go clear at the top of Totesport League Division One yesterday. Queenslander Love made 111 off 131 balls - hitting 14 fours - while No 3 Afzaal rattled up 122 at an even quicker tempo in a total of 283 for one at Wantage Road.

Former England batsman Afzaal hit 15 fours and a six in 119 balls, while Melvyn Betts, who took the solitary wicket of Bilal Shafayat, was the only successful bowler after the Crusaders had won the toss and chosen to field.

The visitors made the most of their turn to bat, though, James Dalrymple (76) and Ed Joyce (74) providing the main impetus as victory was sealed by two wickets.

The bowlers fared much better at Trent Bridge, where a late-innings repair job from Chris Read helped

bottom-of-the-table Nottinghamshire Outlaws to their first victory of the

season - at the expense of Lancashire.

Wicketkeeper Read (68 not out) revived his team from 77 for five at one stage on the way to a battling 249 for eight, batting first.

That proved plenty to account for Lancashire, who rarely threatened a credible chase and faltered to 188 all out.

Martin van Jaarsveld continued his rich vein of form with a sparkling

hundred to help the Kent Spitfires to an easy victory over Somerset at Bath in Division Two.

The South African, who hit 14 fours and three sixes in his 106-ball 114, shared a second-wicket stand of 137 with England's Robert Key (67) as the visitors totalled 319 for five after being asked to bat at the Recreation Ground.

Somerset's reply never really got off the ground and limped to 245 all out.