Phil Mustard won the toss and elected to bat first in his first home match as captain.
Mustard and Di Venuto, replacing Ian Blackwell (calf injury), opened for the Dynamos with the captain first to fall when he was caught at mid on by Claude Henderson off the bowling of Sam Cliff for 7 in the sixth over. Di Venuto was caught in the slips by McDonald in Cliff’s following over leaving Durham 28-2.
The hosts passed the fifty mark in the 15th over with Ben Harmison and Dale Benkenstein at the crease but the latter was dismissed shortly after, becoming Cliff’s third victim, when he was caught at mid wicket by du Toit for 12.
Henderson came on to bowl the 18th over and had Ben Stokes trapped lbw for 4 with the last ball of his first over, restricting the Dynamos to 62-4.
A score of 48 from Ben Harmison guided Durham past the hundred mark but was caught at mid wicket by Du Toit off McDonald, bringing Gareth Breese to the middle to join Gordon Muchall.
Breese added 42 before he was caught by Boyce at deep mid wicket with Durham 171-6 and two overs remaining of their innings.
As the side looked for quick runs in the closing stages three wickets fell, adding 18 runs between them. Plunkett was caught by McDonald off the bowling of Malik for 0 and it after being dropped twice previously, McDonald caught Muchall off the bowling of Hoggard when he was on 43.
Mitchell Claydon (7*) was run out as he and Scott Borthwick (1*) looked to sneak a second run off the final delivery of the innings.
Leicestershire scored quickly from the outset of their innings and after five overs they were 45 without loss. Gareth Breese picked up the first wicket after McDonald was caught at deep square leg on 46. Du Toit scored a 25 ball fifty, which included seven fours and two maximums, before he was caught by Ben Harmison off the bowling of Plunkett for 64 in the 14th over.
The Foxes were 134-3 when Plunkett claimed his second victim, Cobb caught behind on 21, which brought Nixon on to join Taylor at the crease. The pair pushed the visitors past the 150 mark, with 40 runs required for the win, which they did with 14 overs to spare.
After the close of play Head Coach, Geoff Cook, said, “It was disappointingly one sided today. I thought, going into the game, that we had a strong enough team to win it, I’m certain of that. It was a perfect example of how games can be won and lost in the first eight overs, especially in the forty over game and at the start of our innings they were on top for the first 10 overs or so.
“They hit the ball comprehensively, as we’ve done in the past, and their authority with the ball just took the game away from us. Plunkett’s effort was tremendous, he bowled brilliantly, none of their batters were very comfortable with him.
“We probably got the worst of the pitch, in retrospect, we would have batted second.”