Close game at Cheltenham

Gloucestershire versus Leicestershire, Specsavers County Championship, Day 2:

SCORECARD | Available through ESPN Cricinfo HERE

HIGHLIGHTS | The highlights of the second day are available HERE

REPORT | The fascinating Specsavers County Championship match between Gloucestershire and Leicestershire continued to ebb and flow on the second day.

Overnight batsmen Angus Robson (62) and Ned Eckersley (35) extended their sixth wicket alliance to 73 before Craig Miles dismissed both set batsmen and David Payne finished with 5-36 as Leicestershire were 218 all out in their first innings on the stroke of lunch.

That represented a useful first innings lead of 35 and although Leicestershire’s seamers again bowled well, Gloucestershire progressed to 133-4 in their second innings as Michael Klinger posted an important 43 not out.

Rain wiped out the final 26.2 overs of proceedings so Gloucestershire currently hold an advantage of 98 at the halfway stage of the match.

Leicestershire resumed at 122-5, 61 behind, in conditions that were warm but not quite as humid as the opening day. There was still late movement for the seamers, illustrated by ‘keeper Chris Dent having to move sharply on a number of occasions after the ball passed the bat.

Eckersley was quicker out of the blocks, scoring 11 runs before Robson sent a perfect drive through extra to take him to a half-century from 148 balls with the 9^th four of his innings. The stroke also recorded the 50 partnership between the two solid right-handers.

Another couple of rasping strokes in that region brought Robson further boundaries but another twist came with the introduction of Miles.

Charging in from the College Lawn End, Miles, with his first delivery, enticed Robson into a drive and Michael Klinger took a safe catch at first slip to end his 170-ball stay. Eckersley had looked in little trouble but then chipped to Hamish Marshall at mid-wicket and from a position of 159-5, Leicestershire were now at 168-7.

Raine joined McKay and played the role of aggressor as the duo not only moved Leicestershire into the lead but also recorded the first - and what was to prove only - batting point of the game.

The left-hander picked up a quintet of boundaries in a stand of 33 in 35 balls, demonstrating both sides of his game in the process. He used a combination of timing and the slope to send one cover drive racing away towards the marquees while also hammering to mid-wicket when Shaw dropped short.

McKay also hit Miles either side of the wicket for fours but another clever change from Klinger reaped an immediate reward. Payne trapped the Australian in front for 11 with the first ball of a spell in which he also pinned Jones (3) lbw and bowled Charlie Shreck (0), Raine clubbing a couple of fours inbetween those dismissals to end on 33 not out.

Lunch was within range and when the players re-emerged around 1.35pm, skies were greyer and there was an early appeal for caught behind against Dent off McKay. The left-hander took Gloucestershire back into profit as part of a gritty stand with Will Tavare.

Cosgrove then showed Klinger’s midas touch as although McKay bowled in good areas, the decision to introduce Shreck brought about the breakthrough. Tavare (18) edged an attempted drive and the skipper snapped up the chance at second slip with the score at 39.

Raine’s unrelenting good work in the game continued as he sent Graeme van Buuren’s leg stump cartwheeling and Gloucestershire were now effectively at 11-2.

There were no nerves as Klinger immediately got into his stride with a trio of well-timed strokes in the cover region while Dent was also timing the ball nicely.

It took some fine work to break the stand, firstly through Shreck building pressure from the Chapel End with unerring line and length in a spell that ultimately yielded 1-14 from eight overs, and then by Cosgrove. The skipper dived at full stretch on a part of the ground that slopes away to somehow get his left hand underneath a Dent (34) edge off Neil Dexter.

The all-rounder continued to probe away - returning excellent figures of 8-2-11-2 in a pre-tea stint from the College Lawn End - and his second wicket arrived when the long-serving Marshall (6), in his last first-class innings for Gloucestershire on this ground, edged to Robson at first slip.

Gloucestershire’s captain worked his way to 32 by tea, at which point his side were 78 runs ahead with six second innings wickets remaining.

Jack Taylor had top-scored in the first innings and again showed positive intent alongside Klinger. The batsman struck three boundaries before surviving a loud appeal as Niall O’Brien collected the ball off Raine when on 13.

That was the score he ended on as drizzle arrived shortly after tea. Although umpires Michael Gough and Graham Lloyd tried to carry on, it got heavier and the players came off 5.4 overs into the session, not to return.

Bowling figures for Leicestershire: McKay 8.4-3-23-0, Jones 9-0-34-0, Raine 9-2-40-1, Shreck 8-2-14-1, Dexter 8-2-11-2.