County take game into final day

Date: Wednesday 12 May 2010

Although Gloucestershire stand on the brink of victory, Leicestershire’s batsmen can be pleased with a real gutsy day’s work in the LV=County Championship game at Bristol.

Resuming the day 152 runs behind with nine wickets left, County progressed to 282-9 to ensure the game would go into the final day.

The home side claimed the extra half-hour but Leicestershire battled through before bad light took the players off with four overs remaining.

Overall, 125 overs have been faced in this second knock, which has been a sterling effort in the circumstances and very encouraging following the first innings.

Paul Nixon (63 from 205 balls), Matthew Boyce (62 from 127), James Taylor (39 from 112) and Jacques du Toit (32* from 138) all occupied the crease for good lengths of time, with Nixon’s stay lasting more than four hours.

du Toit has also batted for nearly three hours and shared a stand of 54 with Claude Henderson (29) for the seventh wicket.

The number six batsman then saw off 13.1 overs with skipper Matthew Hoggard as the team took the game into the last day.

However, among the good work, County lost four wickets for 31 in 14.1 overs either side of the new ball and three wickets for a solitary run later in proceedings as the hosts kept chipping away towards victory.

After a slightly delayed start, Leicestershire suffered an early blow when Boyce (62) fell in the second over on day three. The country’s leading first-class wicket-taker Gemaal Hussain found the edge and home captain Alex Gidman did the rest at slip.

It ended the 125-run opening partnership and Boyce had batted just shy of three hours. Bad light and rain then stopped play with the team on 129-1.

Nixon was unbeaten on 50 and Taylor was unbeaten on four when the groundstaff scampered for the covers.

The players were able to resume before lunch and went in without further loss. Nixon continued to be watchful while Taylor opened his boundary account with a nice cover drive.

Nixon also struck a four shortly prior to lunch as County went in on 150-1. 28 runs had been added in the sixteen overs possible but it was all about crease occupation for the batsmen and their application was again excellent.

Although half the session was lost, an extra half an hour’s play was available at the end of the day so there was still plenty of time for the hosts to make inroads.

The key wicket fell after the interval as Anthony Ireland struck. The seamer had Nixon caught at backward square-leg by Will Porterfield for 63, and the left-hander’s patient vigil had come to an end.

Crucially though, the batsman had stayed at the crease for more than four hours and showed what could be done. That gave the team heart and Taylor was getting into his stride.

The youngster took two fours from the last three balls of Ireland’s 20th over as he kept the scoreboard ticking over and moved into the 30s in the process.

However, wickets either side of the new ball put a huge dent in Leicestershire’s hopes of getting a positive result.

Andrew McDonald scored twelve but he was the third wicket to go. The Australian fell on the hook to Gidman as James Franklin took the catch at deep backward square-leg.

That bought Will Jefferson to the crease, who was able to bat at five with a runner following his ankle problem. His presence at the crease was more than handy given the new ball was due almost immediately.

But that new cherry did damage as both men went. Jefferson was trapped leg-before by Jon Lewis and Taylor was bowled by left-armer Franklin after dragging on for a disciplined 39 in a two-and-a-half hour stay in the middle.

It meant du Toit and Tom New were bought together with neither having settled and it was a tough phase of play against the experienced duo of Franklin and Lewis.

New fell before the interval as Franklin had the ‘keeper well caught by Dent in the cordon. It meant four wickets had fallen for 31 runs either side of the new ball.

It was a costly period but du Toit and Henderson shared a spirited partnership after tea, which was taken on 219-6. Henderson found the boundary three times early in his innings with some neat drives but as a general rule of thumb, he and du Toit were content to bat time.

That was exactly what the situation required. Then, when the duo were settled, each found the ropes as Leicestershire reduced the deficit to single figures.

With hopes of getting some form of tricky lead, though, the team lost three more wickets in a cluster. Ireland had Henderson caught by Chris Taylor at point, and the man who generally causes Leicestershire problems then trapped Nathan Buck in front first ball.

That left the team a run behind with two wickets in the bank and although du Toit levelled things up, AJ Harris was caught behind off Lewis.

Skipper Hoggard nudged the side into the lead and he and du Toit battled hard to ensure the hosts could not wrap up victory tonight. The pair saw out fifty minutes of bowling; it was spirited stuff, which has been the theme of the second innings.