County Championship: Glos’ Van Buuren hits ton as Leicestershire push for title

Runaway Division Two leaders Leicestershire edged closer to winning promotion for the first time in their history even though Gloucestershire had the better of day one of their County Championship clash.

Needing 20 points from their final three fixtures to be sure of playing Division One cricket next season, they already have two two of those. With third-placed Derbyshire able to claim only one batting point at Lord’s, they effectively need 16 more.

They have work to do here, though, with Gloucestershire in a strong position, even after losing Graeme van Buuren for 101 from the penultimate ball of the day.

The South African-born all-rounder hit 14 fours and a six in a fine, 143-ball innings, supplemented by half-centuries from Ben Charlesworth (74), James Bracey (69) and Miles Hammond (50) after Gloucestershire’s interim skipper Bracey chose to bat first.

Leicestershire veteran Chris Wright took 3-56 and left-arm quick Josh Hull 3-79, although the 21-year-old’s day ended somewhat ignominiously when a second full toss above waist height saw him ordered out of the attack for the remainder of the innings. Regularly called for overstepping too, Hull racked up 11 no-balls in total.

Gloucestershire, themselves not mathematically out of the running for a promotion place, made two changes from their most recent Championship side. Cameron Bancroft and Todd Murphy have both returned to Australia.

Leicestershire made five. Peter Handscomb, whose captaincy has been an important element of the county winning six matches so far, has also gone home for the Australian domestic season, giving the armband to Ian Holland, who had not previously led a team at senior level.

The availability of Shan Masood, who is staying on after his white-ball stint, and the arrival from Middlesex of Steve Eskinazi, bolstered the batting but with Rehan Ahmed on England duty and Ben Green recalled from loan by parent club Somerset, injuries to Tom Scriven and Liam Trevaskis further weakened their bowling hand.

They seemed to feel it in a morning session which, apart from 10 minutes or so during Hull’s opening burst of the day, belonged to the visitors, who were 129-2 at lunch after Charlesworth took advantage of too many easy scoring opportunities offered up by the home attack with 10 fours in reaching 52 from 75 balls.

Hull’s two successes came as 21-year-old Ben Phillips, opening in regular captain Bancroft’s place, was bowled off an inside edge by a yorker-length delivery and Ben Cox took a diving catch behind the stumps to remove Ollie Price.

Leicestershire stemmed the flow of boundaries in the afternoon, earning an important breakthrough when Wright, now well into the autumn of his career, produced a delivery from his heyday to hit the top of Charlesworth’s off stump.

Another came when Hammond, becoming increasingly frustrated despite reaching 50 for the eighth time this season, was tempted into pulling a shorter delivery from Hull and was caught at deep backward square. The innings took him past 800 for this season but he is still without a century.

From 230-4 at tea, however, Gloucestershire advanced to a position of strength by the close, Leicestershire’s cause not helped by some untidiness creeping back into their bowling.

Apart from Hull’s waywardness and subsequent removal, Ben Mike struggled for rhythm, conceding four boundaries to Bracey in the same over as the the left-hander quickly built on a 92-ball half-century, although he did have the misfortune to see Van Buuren caught off a no-ball on 55.

Worryingly for the home side, Mike limped off before the close with what looked like another recurrence of his recent hamstring problems.

Leicestershire had to wait until the second new ball became available to make another breakthrough but two wickets in the space of six overs gave them a second bowling bonus point. Bracey edged to second slip attempting to drive Holland before Wright found some extra bounce and the edge of Jack Taylor’s bat, then trapping Van Buuren in front to close proceedings for the day.

Report supplied by ECB Reporters’ Network, supported by Rothesay