County Championship: Leics v Glos – Foxes dig in to keep draw in sight

Leicestershire’s resilient batting performance helped the Foxes go a long way towards securing the draw that, depending on results elsewhere, could prove enough to see them over the promotion line on the second day of their County Championship match against Gloucestershire.

Big half-centuries from Lewis Hill, his fifth of the season, and Shan Masood, on his championship debut for the county, allowed Leicestershire to recover from 86-3 – and secure a batting bonus point – before closing on 270-4.

Both achieved personal landmarks in the course of their innings – Masood passing 12,000 first-class runs, and Hill 5,000.

The Foxes still trail the visitors by 212, and need another 63 runs to be sure of not being asked to follow-on, but a poor weather forecast for days three and four means the draw is now strong favourite, and there should be enough play for Leicestershire to secure at least two more batting bonus points.

A return of 14 or 15 points could prove sufficient to confirm their return to the top division.

On a sunny morning at Grace Road, Gloucestershire resumed their first innings on 382-7, but play began with one of those periods of county cricket when the bowling side opts to hurry through a few overs to improve a negative over-rate, which in this case meant Leicestershire opening batsmen Rishi Patel and Sol Budinger squeezing eleven overs of their occasional off-spin into the first 20 minutes of play.

While on one hand this meant the Foxes were no longer in any danger of being deducted any points at the end of the game, it also meant they had little chance of taking the two wickets they needed for a third bowling bonus point.

Zaman Akhter and Matt Taylor comfortably built a half-century partnership before, with the seamers now back into the attack, Taylor top-edged a pull at a short delivery from Logan van Beek, and Lewis Hill took a good catch at deep square leg.

Van Beek then produced a fine delivery to bowl Josh Shaw, but Akhter and last man Ajeet Singh Dale laid about them to good effect, Akhter registering a third half-century of the season to underline his status as aspiring all-rounder before edging an Ian Holland out-swinger to wicketkeeper Ben Cox.

Having made important contributions with the bat, Taylor and Singh Dale then looked dangerous with the ball, finding sufficient movement to beat both Patel and Budinger in impressive spells before lunch.

Budinger could consider himself unfortunate, however, when having hit Taylor for consecutive boundaries, the left-hander got a delivery that kept markedly low before thudding into his off-stump.

Patel, who has struggled for form in recent weeks, followed shortly after the break, an uncertain defensive push at Josh Shaw giving Ben Charlesworth a straightforward catch at second slip, and though Holland tried to dig in, the Leicestershire captain’s inclination to stay on the back foot cost him when a fullish Taylor delivery stayed low and pinned him leg before.

Hill, however, has been one of Leicestershire’s most consistent run-scorers this season, and having played himself in, the 34-year-old former captain began to unfurl some fine shots, including four boundaries in five balls before a glorious on-drive off Shaw took him past 50, the half-century coming off 57 deliveries.

Masood, coming in to the side in place of Peter Handscomb (who returned to Australia to prepare for the forthcoming season down under), also began slowly, but as the ball got older and the bowlers began to tire, he too began to show his class, with one particular late cut verging on the exquisite.

The partnership had passed 150 when Hill, to his dismay, was given out caught behind on 88 off the bowling of Taylor.

His dismissal brought in Steve Eskinazi, another making his championship debut for Leicestershire, and the tall right-hander gave Masood solid support in steering their side to the close without further loss.

Report supplied by ECB Reporters’ Network, supported by Rothesay