Leicestershire reach 221/4 before rain at Grace Road

On winning the toss, Mark Wallace had no hesitation in opting to bowl first on the green-tinged surface with the Welsh county including Will Owen and John Glover in their line-up in the absence of Michael Hogan and Ruaidhri Smith. Leicestershire fielded the same eleven who drew last week at Canterbury, with the home side still missing the services of West Indian batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan who has a back ailment, whilst others, including Dan Redfern and Shiv Thakor are on the sidelines with broken digits.


Owen duly shared the new ball with Graham Wagg with the latter being driven straight for four by Greg Smith in the opening over. Both bowlers beat the outside edge, with one snick from Matthew Boyce falling just short of third slip. Boyce also punched Owen through mid-off for four before Smith flicked Wagg to backward square-leg. He also edged the left-armer just short of Jacques Rudolph at third slip as well as just out of the grasp of Stewart Walters at second slip with the ball scooting away to third man for another boundary.



There was nothing fortuitous though about Smith's next four as he pulled a long-hop from Wagg to the mid-wicket ropes. Both batsmen also cover drove Wagg for four before Jim Allenby entered the attack at the Bennett End. He also beat the outside edge as the batsmen groped forward, with Glover also replacing Wagg at the Pavilion End. Boyce drove the seamer uppishly through backward point as the home side approached the fifty mark in the 20^th over. But with the total on 49, Allenby made the breakthrough as Wagg, diving at short extra cover, held onto another uppish drive by Smith.


His departure saw Ned Eckersley join Boyce and he opened his account with a firm cover drive against Allenby, and it might have been 54/2 but Walters at second slip could not hold onto the edge from Boyce. The opener celebrated by cover driving Allenby and Eckersley then did the same against Glover before Boyce greeted the return of Owen by pulling him for four.


Dean Cosker also entered the attack shortly before lunch at the Bennett End.

Leicestershire resumed the afternoon session on 82/1 after a morning when the ball had beaten the bat on plenty of occasions in the overcast conditions. Drizzle had also fallen during the lunch interval but it eased and allowed play to continue on time with Matthew Boyce cover driving Jim Allenby followed by a punched drive through backward point against Graham Wagg.


Ned Eckersley also found the ropes as he drilled Allenby square of the wicket on the offside before Leicestershire reached the 100-mark in the 36^th over. He also hoisted Wagg to the ropes at long-leg before clipping the left-armer to the ropes at mid-wicket, but next over Wagg ended Boyce's stay at the crease as the opener edged into Mark Wallace's safe gloves.


117/2 immediately became 117/3 as Angus Robson chopped the next delivery onto his stumps. Josh Cobb then survived the hat-trick ball before clipping both Wagg and Allenby through mid-wicket for four. But two overs later, and with the total on 137, Wagg claimed his third wicket as Eckersley edged a drive into Wallace's gloves. Cobb unleashed another expansive drive, just out of the reach of John Glover at mid-off.


Niall O'Brien then got off the mark with a five, as he scampered a quick single to cover whose shy at the stumps at the bowler's end sped away for overthrows. Cobb greeted the return of John Glover to the attack by swotting him to mind-wicket for four, before O'Brien carved the young seamer just over the head of Murray Goodwin at backward point.


Wagg nearly took a second diving catch as he just failed to cling onto a lofted drive by Cobb, who then biffed Glover to long-on for four. He continued to live dangerously as he almost gave a return catch to Will Owen before edging the seamer just wide of the outstretched hands of second slip. O'Brien then clipped Owen to square-leg for four whilst Cobb drove Owen to mid-wicket as the home side reached 200 shortly before tea.
Just before the interval, O'Brien struck Dean Cosker through cover and extra cover to end a sequence of four successive maidens by the evergreen twirler.

Rain started to fall during the tea interval and prevented a prompt resumption, and with a heavy cloud cover, there were concerns as well by the umpires about the light.

The precipitation intensified around 5.00pm and with the droplets still falling at 5.30pm, play was called off for the day.