Deposed India captain Sourav Ganguly scored 44 not out for Northamptonshire as they beat Worcestershire by nine wickets in a Twenty20 Cup match at New Road.

Chasing a paltry target of 87 in 20 overs, Ganguly, who opened the innings with Usman Afzaal, hit five boundaries in his 53-ball knock.

He added 68 for the unbroken second wicket stand with David Sales who remained unbeaten on 34. The visitors achieved the target in 16.3 overs.

Zaheer Khan, playing for Worcestershire, bowled three unsuccessful overs giving away 15 runs.

Earlier, the hosts elected to bat on winning the toss, but the decision backfired as the team was bowled out for 86 in 19.3 overs. Matthew Nicholson and Ben Philips reduced them to 18 for six and it was Zaheer's top-score of 26 which helped the hosts reach the score they did.

Ganguly also chipped in with the wicket of Zimbabwean Ray Price in his spell of four overs which cost 21 runs.

MONGIA HITS CENTURY

Dinesh Mongia hit a magnificent unbeaten century to guide Leicestershire to 315 for 9 declared in the first innings of their three-day match against Pakistan at Grace Road.

Put in to bat, the hosts lost three wickets for 73 before Mongia and John Sadler (92) bailed them out with a 147-run partnership for the fourth wicket.

Mongia hit 18 boundaries during his knock of 129 which came off 234 balls.

Leicestershire, who played positively to earn a result, declared their first innings at 315 and forced Pakistan to bat for seven overs towards the end of the play on Saturday.

At stumps on day one, the tourists were 14 for no loss with Imran Farhat and Salman Butt batting on 7 each.