A hat-trick from Leicestershire Foxes captain Jeremy Snape sent Yorkshire tumbling to a 13-run defeat at the hands of the Twenty20 Cup holders at Grace Road tonight.

In a game reduced to 16 overs-a-side after torrential rain had soaked the ground, Yorkshire were given hope of reaching a tough 155 target by an early onslaught from openers Craig White and Gerard Brophy but they then fell away against tight bowling from medium-pacer David Masters and left-arm spinner Claude Henderson.

Yorkshire will want to forget this opening game in the competition because several of their players had a nightmare journey down the M1 and some would have arrived only shortly before the start had the game got away on time.

Anthony McGrath was one of those to appreciate the 45-minute delay because it took him over four hours in tail-to-tail traffic to make it to the ground.

But there was little sign of nervous fatigue from either White or Brophy as they blasted 57 together from the first five overs, with the most remarkable hitting coming from the former England all-rounder, who thrashed two fours and a six off consecutive deliveries from Stuart Broad's first over - harsh treatment for the young paceman who earlier in the day had been called into the England one-day squad.

Brophy maintained the momentum with three consecutive boundaries off Garnett Kruger's next over to make it seven boundaries off eight deliveries for Yorkshire, who sped to 33 without loss in three overs.

The spree came to an abrupt end when James Allenby had White skying a boundary catch to former Yorkshire player John Sadler for a dashing 31 from just 14 balls with five fours and a six, and there was a further blow next ball when McGrath was lbw to Masters, who also accounted for Younus Khan.

Brophy reached 44 from 32 deliveries with seven fours before he was bowled off his pads by Henderson, and Yorkshire were already falling well behind when Snape brought himself on to bowl the 13th over with the score on 96 for four.

His second ball was hit towards the square-leg boundary by Tim Bresnan, where it was caught tight on the rope by Paul Harrison, and his next had Jacques Rudolph caught at long off by Sadler.

Richard Pyrah came in to face the hat-trick ball and promptly hit it straight back to the jubilant Snape, who took himself off at the end of the over!

Yorkshire narrowed the gap with consecutive sixes by Chris Gilbert off Allenby, and there was a six apiece for Darren Gough and Jason Gillespie but Leicestershire were never in any real danger of losing.

The groundstaff did a magnificent job to get the game started but the outfield was still saturated when Leicestershire chose to bat, and they were given a racing start by Hylton Ackerman and Harrison, who put on 33 in three overs.

Gillespie began with a tight over, but Gough, having declared himself fit after breaking a bone in his hand only a fortnight ago, conceded 16 runs in his first over before taking himself off until later in the innings.

Bresnan dismissed top-scorer Allenby and Sadler in the space of one over but Yorkshire's all-pace attack never turned the screw as tightly as Leicestershire's slower bowlers had done.

Yorkshire decided to rest Matthew Hoggard after his Test-match exertions and they also omitted left-arm spinner David Wainwright, but they will probably think again about that tactic when they choose their side for the sell-out Roses match at Headingley Carnegie on Monday.