Northamptonshire close in on a victory over Leicestershire: County Championship Division Two
Leicestershire require another 176 runs with eight wickets in hand, in order to avoid an innings defeat against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013, on June 20, 2011.
The hosts were bowled out for 168 in their first innings, as they failed to cope with the oppositions’ seamers.
In reply, the Northamptonshire team played well, scoring 371/9 before making the declaration. This gave the visitors a very useful lead and they managed to pick up a couple of wickets in the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Leicestershire-c807’s second innings for just 27 runs on the board.
The pitch got better for the batsmen with the passage of time, but conditions were not that easy for batting on the first day.
However, the home team’s skipper, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Read-c84446 the conditions and opted to bat after winning the toss on a damp wicket. This cost his team dearly, as they failed to post a challenging total in their first outing.
Leicestershire’s start was disastrous in the game, as they lost their top five batsmen for just 75 runs on the board. There was some resistance from their lower-order, as http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Gordon-Muchall-c1499 support from the other end.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Lee-Daggett-c1835 enjoyed the conditions, taking four wickets apiece in the innings.
There were some solid performances from the Northamptonshire players in their first outing. Their start was impressive, as openers http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Benjamin-Harry-Nicholas-Howgego-c47666 piled up 83 runs for the first wicket.
Peters ended up being the top scorer in the innings with 96 runs and he got very good support from the middle-order batsmen. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Alex-George-Wakely-c43114 scored 62 runs in his outing and the most impressive thing for the visitors was their bowling duo, which took wickets scored half-centuries in the match as well.
Lucas managed 60 runs in his innings before being dismissed whereas Daggett remained unbeaten on 50 before the innings was declared.
Hoggard led from the front for Leicestershire, taking four wickets, but lacked support from the other bowlers in the side.
The hosts would have hoped for a positive start to their second innings, but were disappointed, as they lost a couple of wickets before http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Short-c90107 outing.
Lucas was once again impressive, taking one wicket in the innings.
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