Nixon was terrific with sweeps on both sides of the wicket

Leicestershire dominated the first Twenty20 Cup semi-final, defeating Essex by 23 runs at Trent Bridge.

They achieved a score of 173-4 and once Stuart Broad had removed Ronnie Irani for a duck early on, Leicestershire never relinquished their advantage.

Veteran Paul Nixon swept the Essex spinners to distraction, finishing unbeaten on 57 off just 33 balls.

And Jeremy Snape took 4-22, with only Mark Pettini (57) doing enough for an under-par Essex who ended on 150-9.

Leicestershire started slowly after electing to bat first on a breezy, overcast day.

But it all changed halfway through their innings as Nixon and HD Ackerman (64) put on 77 for the third wicket.

We can play a lot better than that Jeremy Snape

Darren Gough's last over went for 18 - and the last nine went for 99 in all.

Only Graham Napier (2-24) emerged with distinction for the Essex bowlers, who really struggled in the limelight, bowling too many full-tosses.

By contrast, Broad - tipped as a future England star - looked composed as he opened the bowling for Leicestershire, conceding just three runs from his first two overs.

The 20-year-old paceman appeared to trap Ronnie Irani - arguably Essex's best player in this format - lbw but umpire Peter Hartley declined the appeal.

Then, a beautiful delivery pitching on off-stump and seaming away took Irani's edge, and there was no further argument.

Pettini rode his luck, hitting some fine off-side boundaries along the way, but an ultra-slow ball from Jeremy Snape had him hitting his own stumps with an attempted cut.

He looks you in the eye and wants it, hits good areas and nips it both ways Ronnie Irani on Broad

From that point, Essex were struggling.

Snape and his fellow spinner Claude Henderson had to be hit for more than 10 runs an over each and it was simply too tough a task.

Surprisingly, Foxes skipper Jeremy Snape was far from satisfied, saying: "We can play a lot better than that and hopefully that's the warm-up for better things later on.

"We batted well but the bowlers let us down a bit and the fielding was weak at times - we have lot of work to do.

"It was a little bit tighter than we would have liked but we're delighted to be through."

For opposite number Ronnie Irani it was a case of what might have been as his youngsters froze on their big day.

"That's our worst performance in this tournament and to do it in the sem-final is a bit of a gut-wrencher," he lamented.

"We have some talented boys who are very disappointed - we didn't perform - but hopefully they will have more of these days in the future.

"Leicestershire were exceptional and we just weren't good enough.

"The young man Broad looks a big one for the future.