Penney steers Bears home

Twenty20 Cup semi-final, Trent Bridge: Warwickshire 166-3 (19.2 overs) beat Leicestershire 162-7 (20 overs) by 7 wickets

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Troughton (left) and Penney did the job with four balls to spare Pictures from Trent Bridge

Trevor Penney and Jim Troughton steered the Bears into the final at Leicestershire's expense with an enterprising partnership at Trent Bridge.

The pair put on 67 in six overs with Penney hitting the winning boundary to reach 43 not out and Troughton contributing 33 off 21 balls.

Leicestershire's total was built around an innings of 66 by Australian Brad Hodge, who reached 300 runs in the competition in the process.

They made a poor start as Indian danger man Virender Sehwag fell to Waqar Younis for five and Trevor Ward was run out brilliantly by Dougie Brown, who made a diving save at mid-off and threw down the stumps at the bowler's end.

But Hodge and Darren Maddy (26) rebuilt the innings with a stand of 59 - Hodge bringing up his half century by hoisting Collins Obuya for six over square leg.

He was eventually caught at mid-wicket from the penultimate delivery bowled by Waqar, who finished with 3-21.

Hodge's innings enabled the Foxes to post a respectable total

Warwickshire made a racing start in reply, reaching 61-0 after only five overs as Neil Carter threw caution to the wind despite being struck on the helmet by a ball from Phil DeFreitas.

Jamie Grove conceded 20 from his solitary over, which included three wides and three no-balls, but eventually took the catch to dismiss Carter off Sehwag for 35 with the total on 68.

Ian Bell fell cheaply and there was just a hint of a wobble from Warwickshire when Nick Knight was run out in the 13th over for a well-played 32 to leave them on 105-3.

But Troughton showed no sign of the hesitancy which resulted in a muted England debut during the recent NatWest Series, collecting three fours off Jeremy Snape, who was also lofted for six by Penney.

The 50 partnership took just 32 balls and with Leicestershire forced to bring the field in for the final over, Penney picked his spot over mid-off to seal the win.

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Leicestershire: V Sehwag, T R Ward, D L Maddy, B J Hodge, D I Stevens, P A Nixon (Wkt), J N Snape, P A J DeFreitas (Capt), D D Masters, J L Sadler, J O Grove.

Warwickshire: N M Carter, N V Knight (Capt), I J L Trott, I R Bell, J O Troughton, T L Penney (Wkt), D R Brown, G G Wagg, C O Obuya, N M K Smith, Waqar Younis.