No play on second day against Northants

Close of Day Two: Northants 297-6 (Hall 95*, Willey 60, Harris 3-64)

No play was possible on the second day of the Championship game against Northants at Grace Road.

Umpires Michael Gough and Trevor Jesty inspected at the beginning of the day, and they decided that light was too poor to start.

They inspected regularly during the course of the morning, but conditions did not improve.

Rain then fell at the interval to add to the problem, and it meant that there was no possibility of any action during the day.

Meanwhile, on the first day, AJ Harris took three wickets on his Leicestershire debut but Andrew Hall’s unbeaten 95 ensured Northants took the first day honours at Grace Road.

The visitors ended proceedings on 297-6 in glorious sunshine after earlier being put into bat in the gloom, with Hall sharing 163 with David Willey to steer his side away from a perilous position of 111-5 shortly after lunch.

Harris had played a key role in County gaining that position. The seamer trapped opener Ben Howgego lbw for 24 and also dismissed Nicky Boje in the same fashion for nine.

He then took the second new ball and took the sixth wicket as Willey – son of umpire Peter – hooked a short ball down to Wayne White at long leg to end a promising first-class debut innings of 60.

The other wickets in the day fell to White – who claimed the key opening breakthrough of Stephen Peters – Jim Allenby and Sam Cliff.

Allenby bowled an outstanding opening spell from the Bennett End as the ball swung on overcast conditions.

The seamer conceded just eight runs from ten overs as County clawed back a positive start from Northants.

Peters (31) looked in good touch early on, finding the off-side boundary with regularity. Howgego also settled in as the runs came too quickly for County’s liking after Paul Nixon’s decision to insert the visitors.

However, County began to get a foothold in the game with Allenby in miserly form and White’s wicket also helped to stem the flow.

Allenby then snuck one through Rob White’s defences (seven) to claim a deserved wicket and when Harris nipped one back into Howgego’s pads, Leics had their tails up as Northants went from 66-0 to 84-3 at lunch.

Boje’s decision to leave another Harris inswinger proved costly as he was dismissed lbw, and when Cliff bowled Riki Wessels for 21, Northants were in some trouble at nelson for five.

However, Hall and Willey combined to stop the rot. The South African played positively throughout and scores seven fours and a six in an 84-ball half-century.

Willey also settled after surviving a sharp caught and bowled chance that Sam Cliff couldn’t cling on to, and he grew in confidence and fluency as the afternoon session went on.

Then, in the final session, he posted a maiden first-class half-century in front of his proud watching family, striking six fours and a swept six in the 129 balls it was posted in.

County didn’t lose heart, though, and Harris broke the stand with the new ball late in the day.

Hall and Johannes van der Wath got through to the close with no further scares to leave Northants in a decent position, but Leics could take positives from a committed opening day of the season.

County: Boyce, New, Dippenaar, Ackerman, Cobb, Nixon, Allenby, White, Henderson, Cliff, Harris.

Northants: Peters, Howgego, White Boje, Wessels, Hall, Willey, van der Wath, Lucas, Panesar, Wigley.

* Picture supplied by Michael Eden