Date-stamped : 13 May97 - 06:16 Snape makes the most of chance By Neville Scott at Northampton Northants (238-8) bt Leics (186-8) by 52 runs WHILE other teams were forced to agonise over differential run rates as much as results, Northamptonshire`s task was more brutally stark. A win meant they would qualify for the quarter-finals; defeat would knock them out. Not until six overs remained, after a match- winning spell from Jeremy Snape, were they able to start believing that victory was theirs. The game turned critically on a magnificent catch from Snape`s fellow off-spinner John Emburey who, belying the elder statesman tag which inevitably dogs a player nearly nine months older than the new Prime Minister, haired in from the long-off boundary to dive full length and dismiss Aftab Habib. This left Leicestershire at 127 for three in the 32nd over, precisely as Northants had been earlier. More significantly, it broke a stand in such full spate that 46 had come from the previous six overs. Gold award winner Snape, the wicket-taker, a product of those two cricket acad- emies, Staffordshire and Durham University, then accepted a ballooning return catch as Ben Smith swept on to his pads. Bowling with the confidence of one at last established in the first team, whereas, two years ago, he was considering leaving Northampton, Snape`s key successes were still to come. In eight balls, as he moved with calm calculation to a maiden one-day five-wicket haul, he held one back to remove Paul Nixon, had James Whitaker caught at long off and deceived the match`s top scorer Neil Johnson. Leicestershire, apparently winning 50 minutes before, were now 178 for seven, needing an impossible 61 runs from the final six overs. Though defeat duly followed the margin was quite enough to preserve their superior net run rate and bring a home tie in the next round. On an occasionally two-paced pitch of sometimes real bounce, no batsman could ever genuinely feel in. Northants, inserted, had found 69 runs from the first 14 overs through openers David Capel and Mal Loye against Johnson and an initially over-pitching David Millns. Their last 11 overs brought 79 more. In between, their tactics went astray. Ultimately, however, five apparently modest individual contributions from a side whose all-round dexterity appears designed for one-day success combined to achieve enough runs. With Snape`s advance, they have the balanced talent for all conditions. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)