We return to the arms of my beloved County Championship.
Previously we beat Leicestershire down at Hove. But now we’re heading to the midlands and we need to make sure we close the 40-odd point gap between us and third.
For once, we win the toss. The weather looks like day one will suffer most and then clear up as we go along. I opt to bowl.
Day One:
Leicestershire’s First Innings
Stuart Meaker takes the new nut, and I tinker with his line and aggression. Janneman Malan edges his first ball to slip.
We drop it.
Malan and Hasan Azad tick on ok before Azad decides to run the riskiest single I’ve seen outside of an U8s game.
Harry Finch smashes down the stumps from silly point and Leicestershire are 11-1.
Meaker comes in to Harry Dearden. He chips one Laurie Evans at second slip. 11-2.
And that’s about as good as it gets for the morning session, from our point of view.
Australian Mark Cosgrove sets about us like we’ve criticised his step son. He goes after both David Wiese and George Garton. He races to his half century and on through the 60s.
When he gets to 71, Garton beats him for pace and he has to depart leg before wicket.
But he’s done well and Leicestershire are now 110-3.
At lunch they are 129-3. The rain comes and takes an hour out of the game.
Paul Horton plays and misses, and lasts 27 balls before Wiese clips his off stump to send him packing. 131-4.
By tea, Sam Evans and Azad are still there but the hosts are still only 181. The second bout of promised bloody rain hasn’t materialised yet either.
Good old Wiese strikes after the interval and Evans has gone for 23. 185-5.
Arron Lilley strides to the wicket. He favours pace bowling, so I sling on Will Beer.
Not a lot happens. They break 200 but then that pesky rain, which would have been so helpful earlier, duly arrives.
Day one ends with them on 207-5 and us still in the field.
