Cosgrove: "The wins will come"

The standard of cricket played by Leicestershire in their recent matches means a first Specsavers County Championship win of the season is just around the corner, according to captain Mark Cosgrove.

County do not play this week, giving them extra time to prepare for the visit of Sussex to the Fischer County Ground for a four-day game starting on Friday June 9.

Cosgrove believes strong performances in drawing against title-chasing Kent, at the Fischer County Ground, and then on a flat track versus Derbyshire in Derby last week, mean the Foxes will take a lot of confidence into the match against Sussex.

“It would be nice to have had a win by now but I definitely feel the team - and the squad as a whole - are on the right track,” said Cosgrove, speaking to BBC Radio Leicester's Richard Rae.

“There have been a lot of good individual performances. To get over 400 after being put in in tough conditions by Kent was a pretty decent effort, with good partnerships all down the order, and then to hit over 600 against Derbyshire was pleasing."

Cosgrove (188), Ned Eckersley (158) and Colin Ackermann (118) all hit their Leicestershire career-best scores against Derbyshire, while young opener Harry Dearden (46 and 78) continued to impress.

On the bowling front, despite missing the last two matches with a calf injury, Ben Raine, with 13 victims at an average of 19.76, is Leicestershire’s leading wicket-taker.

Overseas star Clint McKay has nine wickets, while the fast bowling duo of Zak Chappell and Dieter Klein, who both have six wickets at 38.33, also bowled their hearts out at the 3aaa County Ground.

Chappell showed admirable qualities as he joined Cosgrove, Eckersley and Ackermann in recording a personal best for the Foxes. The 20-year-old's four wickets came at an average of 27 throughout a long innings on a good surface in humid conditions.

Cosgrove said: “Clint McKay bowled beautifully on a track that gave him nothing at Derby, but the truth is he's bowled pretty well on flat pitches all season, he just hasn't had much luck and hasn't had the rewards.

“It's been frustrating for him, because you can see he's trying his heart out and the batsmen haven't been nicking them. But things will change for him, he's world-class, and will end up with 50 or 60 wickets as usual, I've no doubt about that.

“Zak (Chappell) also did very well, he came in and bowled really fast and nearly blew the game open for us. You need a bit of pace on those kind of wickets, Dieter (Klein) and Zak give us that and it's handy to have that at our disposal.

“The spinners have had it tough with the pitches being the way they have, and they haven't had any luck with chances being missed either. Gavin Griffiths has shown us he's a serious prospect, and Rainey (Ben Raine) should be fully fit for the next game.”