County dictate terms on day one

Ben Raine celebrated the signing of his contract extension by snaring an LV=CC career-best 4-55 as Leicestershire enjoyed an excellent first day against Northamptonshire at Grace Road.

The all-rounder twice put himself on a hat-trick and Clint McKay (17-3-75-2), Charlie Shreck (21-7-41-2), Tom Wells (7-2-17-1) and Dan Redfern (0.1-0-0-1) were also in the wickets as County bowled out Northants for 251.

Angus Robson (52 not out) and Redfern (40) played beautifully in sharing an opening stand of 83 as the team closed on 102-1 from 23 overs in reply, Ned Eckersley (10*) being the other unbeaten batsman.

Leicestershire made one change from the Glamorgan draw as McKay came into the side in place of the injured Atif Sheikh. Northants were unchanged from their opening draw against Gloucestershire.

McKay was soon into the action as County skipper Mark Cosgrove won the toss and elected to bowl on a chilly morning at Grace Road.

Stephen Peters and Richard Levi negated the early threat by sharing 47 for the first wicket but McKay struck at the end of his sixth over. Levi (22), who collected two handsome consecutive boundaries in the over, edged a full delivery and Cosgrove snapped up a chance at first slip after Wells parried the ball in his direction.

The score became 73-2 as Shreck, who bowled beautifully throughout the day, gained reward after captain Alex Wakely (10) nicked to Neil Pinner at second slip.

Raine then ensured it was Leicestershire's session after replacing Ollie Freckingham (11-1-47-0) from the Bennett End. After having a big appeal for leg before against Peters in his second over, the all-rounder claimed two wickets in two balls in his next offering.

Peters (40) edged a drive as Pinner took a super low catch in the cordon before Rob Keogh (0) left a delivery that nipped back a long way to hit the stumps. It was just what Leicestershire needed with lunch on the horizon and Northants went in on 116-4.

There was an early breakthrough after the interval as Rossington (22) edged Shreck low down to Cosgrove in the cordon. Newton and Josh Cobb (13) put on 33 before the former Leicestershire man was bowled by a good delivery from McKay.

Newton moved to a valuable 77-ball 50 as he forced the ball through the leg side for his ninth boundary. Dave Willey offered useful support to Newton and he hit Raine to the boundary through mid-on to record the 50 partnership.

Two vital wickets fell on the stroke of the scheduled ta interval as the impressive Raine, who recently committed his future to the club until at least the end of the 2017 season, trapped Newton and Rory Kleinveldt (0) lbw in consecutive balls.

That opened the door for County as Willey decided to go for his strokes. After cracking a four down to third man, the left-hander's enterprising knock of 36 came to an end as Eckersley took a good diving catch at cover off Wells. Thirty of his runs had been scored in boundaries.

It gave County maximum bowling points but Olly Stone and Muhammad Azharullah frustrated the team for a period of time. They recorded the second batting point and extended the afternoon session by 8.1 overs before Redfern ended the innings with his first delivery, bowling Stone for 19.

Robson and Redfern each struck four boundaries in the opening ten overs as Leicestershire raced to 43-0 after ten overs and the duo continued to score freely. Redfern looked particularly good driving through the off side while Robson, who found the boundary three times in the 17th over, played a number of exquisite cuts and square drives.

There was a wicket before stumps as Redfern (40) edged Azharullah and Wakely took a juggling effort at second slip in the 19th over. But Eckersley played a couple of cracking strokes and Robson ended the day in perfect fashion, sending a rasping on-drive to the fence off the final ball to record a terrific 68-ball 50 (10x4).