Cobb, Taylor and Nixon impress for County

First Day Report: Leicestershire 332-8 (Taylor 76*, Cobb 72, Nixon 57, Kirby 3-64) v Gloucestershire

Impressive half-centuries from James Taylor, Josh Cobb and Paul Nixon laid the foundations of a solid first day’s batting for Leicestershire against Gloucestershire at Grace Road.

Nixon (59), who opened the batting on his return to the side, shared 103 for the third wicket with Cobb (72), while Taylor later continued his brilliant run of form with a superb unbeaten 76 as County closed on 332-8.

The youngster put on important stands of 46, 53 and 40* with James Benning (37), Wayne White (23) and Claude Henderson (13*) respectively, as the team worked towards their fourth batting point on a glorious summer’s day.

It all started well as captain Boeta Dippenaar continued his impressive recent record of winning the toss, and he had no hesitation in electing to bat on a good deck.

With Matthew Boyce injured, there was a new opening pair as Nixon partnered Greg Smith at the top of the order, and they combined to good effect to share 51 for the first wicket.

The duo battled hard against the potent new ball attack of Jon Lewis and James Franklin, with both men swinging the ball around dangerously.

The batting pair negated the threat by playing late with soft hands and the opening exchanges were a good battle between the swinging ball and willow.

It was fascinating stuff and when Smith was enticed into a more ambitious drive, the ball went straight through Hamish Marshall at third slip and Lewis was left to curse his luck.

The young batter grew in confidence as the session went on, flicking Franklin through square leg and playing a super on-drive off former Oakham Schoolboy Ian Saxleby when the bowler entered the attack.

Smith then greeted ex-Fox Steve Kirby into the attack with a strong cut and square drive that both raced to the boundary, taking his tally to seven within the opening three quarters of an hour.

Nixon played watchfully as the pair got through the first hour, which was the primary objective of the session, and the 50-stand was bought up shortly afterwards.

Unfortunately the visitors got the breakthrough they were looking for just into the second hour of play as Kirby nipped one back to trap Smith leg-before for a well-played 32.

That bought the skipper to the crease and played a nice cover drive to get underway, while Nixon was playing nicely through the v; including a lovely off-drive off Kirby and a perfect on-drive off Franklin.

Dippenaar also hit one through that region with a straight bat, but it was the drive that caused his undoing when he lofted the ball straight to Alex Gidman at mid-off.

Cobb, who was batting at four on the day HD Ackerman announced that he was stepping down from the first team to allow the youngster the opportunity, picked up the mantle and got off the mark with a flowing drive. Nixon also continued to play well, including two sumptuous off-drives when Gidman introduced himself into the attack.

The pair got through to lunch, with Nixon unbeaten on 39 and Cobb on seven, and the youngster started well after the interval, playing with soft hands off Kirby for a four down to third man and also driving Richard Dawson twice to the ropes.

However, they didn’t get it all their own way and both men were giving a stern examination by Kirby during an interesting period of play.

The flame-haired paceman bowled with typical pace, bounce and hostility all day in the heat, and sent down an all-action 35th over. He went perilously close to hitting Nixon’s off-stump after beating the bat, but the batsman replied by stroking a four through the covers.

Kirby was clearly not impressed and the next ball took out the middle pole; unfortunately for the paceman, Trevor Jesty had called a no-ball.

The seamer's next over was also full of incident, which started with a leg-before appeal against Cobb. The youngster, who knows the bowler well from their Kibworth links, survived and responded with a super cover drive.

Cobb continued to take the attack to the bowlers, lofting Dawson over straight mid-wicket for a super maximum in the next over.

A straight drive back over Dawson's head bought up a 62-ball fifty with his seventh four, and a well-timed cover drive just after bought Cobb another boundary.

A period of quietness followed as both sides hung in during the afternoon heat, although Cobb broke the shackles later in the session with a drive through cover point and a glance down to fine leg; both went for four.

Nixon then bought up his fifty with a pulled single, with the gritty innings compiled from 129 balls at that point. The half-century contained seven boundaries.

Cobb continued to play beautifully, lofting Dawson over mid-off in his next display of quality strokeplay. The 100-run stand was then bought up with a straight drive from Nixon that nearly hit the stumps at the bowlers' end.

The visitors badly needed something to happen and, prompted by off-spinner Dawson, they enjoyed a great spell by taking three wickets for seven runs.

The tweaker provided the first wicket with Cobb caught at leg-slip by captain Gidman and the breakthrough gave Gloucs a spring in their step.

Franklin then returned to provide another boost by finding Nixon's edge with the first ball he had been drawn into outside off-stump all day.

Dawson then strangled New down the leg-side and, all of a sudden, from a promising position of 175-2, the team were now struggling somewhat 182-5.

The two Jameses then combined to good effect, with Benning joining Taylor at the wicket.

Benning was extremely positive on his first-class debut for the club, striking seven early boundaries. Two of those raced past wide mid-off, while there was also a nice flick of the pads, two cut strokes - one of which had great power - and two cover drives.

It meant Benning went into tea on a rapid unbeaten 36 from 38 balls, while Taylor was 14 not out and the score was on 225-5.

The break proved costly for Benning though, with Kirby bowling the all-rounder for 37 shortly afterwards. It gave the visitors a second bowling point and left County with work to do.

Taylor started that task with relish, driving Kirby for four through extra. White also took the returning Dawson for two boundaries through cover and smashed his off-spinning partner Chris Taylor through the same region as the pair took the side beyond 250.

Taylor continued to accumulate, including a beautiful four through straight mid-wicket off Dawson, while White continued to drive nicely through the covers. The duo took their stand passed 50 prior to the new ball being taken immediately.

The new cherry was always going to be difficult against the wily duo of Kirby and Lewis, and taking it straightaway had the desired effect for Gloucs as Kirby claimed his third wicket in the first over by bowling White for 23.

The pair continued to pose plenty of problems, with Jigar Naik joining Taylor and batting defiantly for a number of overs. The off-spinner was next to go though; trapped leg-before by Lewis with a nip-backer for four with the score on 292.

Franklin then returned looking for more wickets, but a Taylor special through cover bought up the diminutive batsman's fifty. It came from the 101th ball faced, with the drive being the fourth boundary of the knock at that stage.

Another fine off-drive from Taylor in Franklin's next over bought up County's third batting point, and he and Henderson continued to defy the attack until the close.

Taylor added three more boundaries by stumps, with Henderson also sticking about usefully as the team moved closer to the 350 mark.

In all, it was a cracking contest between bat and ball. The ball swung, the wicket offered good carry for the impressive Kirby and turn for Dawson, while the batting was also of good quality.

County’s first objective will be get up to and beyond 350, and if day two is anything like the first, then the spectators will be in for a treat again.