Neil Carter hit a mercurial 78 off 55 balls as Warwickshire crushed Leicestershire by 81 runs with in their floodlit NatWest Pro40 clash at Grace Road.

With Carter cutting loose with a barrage of boundaries and former Foxes favourite Darren Maddy chipping in with a half-century on his old ground, the Bears posted a challenging target of 276 for seven.

It proved well beyond the home side who collapsed to a disappointing 195 all out in 36.3 overs with left-arm spinner Ant Botha claiming five for 43.

But it was the blitz from Carter at the top of the innings that set up the Bears' comfortable victory.

The big-hitting left-hander was in magnificent form dominating an opening stand of 91 in 12 overs with Jonathan Trott.

Carter struck 10 fours and five sixes as the home attack was put to the sword reaching a whirlwind half-century off just 36 balls.

When he was finally second out with the total at 111 he could count himself unfortunate.

A ball from Tom Smith found the inside edge and rebounded onto the stumps from Carter's thigh pad.

But Maddy took up the attack against his old county reaching his half-century off 42 balls with seven sweetly struck boundaries plus a six. He and Jim Troughton shared a third wicket stand of 96 in 13 overs but when Troughton was stumped off Claude Henderson for 48, it signalled an unexpected mid-order collect by the Bears.

They lost four wickets for 17 runs in six overs all of them claimed by left-arm spinner Henderson at a personal cost of 12 runs.

But some late big hitting by Botha, who made 32 off 19 balls put the Bears in command again.

The Foxes were given a solid start with an opening stand of 55 between HD Ackerman and Matt Boyce but their departures virtually ended the home side's hopes of making a game of it.

Wickets fell regularly after that with James Allenby top scoring for the Foxes with a modest 39.

It was Botha who did much of the damage claiming five of the wickets in an accurate eight over spell while Salisbury bowled tidily conceding just 36 runs in his eight overs.

Dillon Du Preez produced some big hitting at the end of the innings but a brilliant catch by Trott out on the boundary brought it to an end giving the Bears their first win in the competition after losing to Kent a week ago.

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