County develop lead of 194

Leicestershire versus Glamorgan, Specsavers County Championship, Day 3:

SCORECARD | Available through ESPN Cricinfo HERE

INTERVIEW | Ned Eckersley spoke to BBC Radio Leicester's Richard Rae at stumps, the interview is HERE

HIGHLIGHTS | The highlights of the third day are available HERE

REPORT | Leicestershire ended day three in a position of strength after a strong performance with bat and ball against Glamorgan at the Fischer County Ground.

Glamorgan would have had their sights set on a decent lead at one point with Colin Ingram (137) in terrific form but County stuck to their task with the ball, taking the final five wickets for just 42 runs.

The indefatigable Ben Raine (4-105) again led the way for the Foxes and Clint McKay took 3-95, including the key wicket of Ingram, as Glamorgan were dismissed for 426.

It meant the visitors only had a six-run advantage and Leicestershire moved to 200-3 at stumps, building a lead of 194 as captain Ned Eckersley led the way with a classy 70 not out and Paul Horton, Neil Dexter and Mark Pettini all made valuable contributions.

Ingram and Cooke were watchful in the early exchanges and then opened up, guiding the visitors to a third batting point before the new ball was due.

The only half-chance that Ingram offered was by driving hard back to Shreck at 92, but it would have been a stunning one-handed grab had the seamer been able to hang on in his follow through.

Three fours arrived in the 79th over including consecutive boundaries that took Ingram to three figures (178 balls, 16x4, 2x6). The stroke that took Ingram to 100 was a pull where the left-hander got right on top of the bounce - being in control was a key trait of his important innings.

The partnership passed 50 before Raine made an important breakthrough with the new ball, trapping Cooke (27) right in front with one that nipped back, leaving Glamorgan at 321-5.

New batsman Kiran Carlson drove Charlie Shreck through cover point to take the visitors to 350 while Ingram continued to play his strokes, including a classic drive off the back foot and a tidy clip off the pads, both of which found the fence.

Ingram looked set to steer his side into lunch but fell to what proved to be the last ball of the interval, an inside edge from a McKay in-swinger cannoning into the stumps to leave Glamorgan at 384-6, Carlson being 21 not out at that stage.

After lunch, both sides collected maximum bonus points in the innings but Leicestershire would have been the happier side. The hosts picked up the final four wickets of the Glamorgan innings in 45 minutes, McKay and Raine collecting two wickets apiece.

Carlson (24) was the first wicket to fall after lunch, edging a McKay ball to Harry Dearden at second slip who caught well. The same combination worked to good effect with the dismissal of Marchant de Lange who bludgeoned two fours and a six in his short but exciting innings.

Raine then picked up the final two wickets of the Glamorgan innings. Lukas Carey was dismissed trying to hook a bouncer but was easily caught by Dexter at third slip, and the pair also combined in dismissing Hogan for the final wicket, the batsman chipping to cover.

Horton and Dearden (2) started the Leicestershire reply but the latter departed with Leicestershire only four runs ahead, caught by Selman in the slips off the bowling of Hogan. Horton and Dexter then built a healthy partnership, putting on 63 before tea, which included some superb strokes.

After the interval, Dexter was run out by Aneurin Donald for 32 off 69 balls, including five fours. This bought Eckersley to the crease, and he and Horton put on 34 with both looking in good touch until de Lange trapped Horton lbw with a nip-backer for 42.

An entertaining undefeated partnership of 91 developed in 19.1 overs between Eckersley and Pettini (33 not out) with both batsmen seizing on anything loose.

Eckersley survived a tough chance on 47 as he skied Carey towards Lloyd in the mid-wicket region. The fielder had to try to judge the ball as it came both out of the sun and over his shoulder, and he could only get fingertips on it.

The batsman completed a third 50 in four innings with an authoritative pull off the very next delivery, the ball rocketing to mid-wicket for a sixth boundary of the 73-ball landmark.

Both played well against seam and then saw off a dual spin attack as Andrew Salter and Ingram bowled in tandem, ensuring Leicestershire will start the final day in good shape.  

Bowling figures for Leicestershire: McKay 27-5-95-3, Raine 30.5-5-105-4, Shreck 29-5-110-1, Dearden 7-0-33-1, Dexter 12-1-49-1, Delport 3-0-15-0.

* Thanks to Ed Melia for the photo of Ned Eckersley.