County lead by 171
Mon 15 Aug 2016
Northamptonshire versus Leicestershire, Specsavers County Championship, Day 3:
SCORECARD | Available through ESPN Cricinfo HERE
INTERVIEW | Ben Raine spoke to BBC Radio Leicester's Richard Rae at stumps HERE
HIGHLIGHTS | The highlights of the third day are available HERE
REPORT | A marathon innings from Northants opener Rob Newton frustrated Leicestershire on the third day of the Specsavers County Championship game at Wantage Road.
Replying to Leicestershire’s 519 all out, Northants progressed their first innings from 142-4 to 397-7 thanks in large to Newton’s 202 not out, compiled in eight hours at the crease.
After Newton’s excellence helped Northants to avoid the follow-on, Alex Wakely then made the bold move of declaring 122 runs behind Leicestershire with 15 overs remaining.
County extended that advantage to 171 by stumps in moving to 49 without loss, Paul Horton (24*) and Angus Robson (23*) scoring three boundaries apiece in controlled innings.
Northants were trailing by 377 as play got underway in bright sunshine at 11am with Adam Rossington joining Newton (69 not out).
Rob Sayer completed his over and there was early spin with Rossington deflecting a delivery narrowly beyond the grasp of Ned Eckersley at short leg.
The batsman decided to take the attack to the off-spinner, launching high above the head of mid-on for a six in his first complete over of the day.
Rossington (26) was also positive against seam, including a couple of fours in Raine’s first over of the morning, but he edged McKay to Eckersley, who took a safe catch at second slip.
New batsman Saif Zaib looked organised; defending well and hitting the odd loose ball through the off-side.
Sayer was then reintroduced, this time from the Lynn Wilson End, and Newton stroked the off-spinner through the covers to collect his 14th four.
The opener was on 97 at lunch alongside Zaib (20) with Northants going in at 220-5. Newton went on to record his second century of the summer from 208 balls with a lovely straight drive for four.
Leicestershire did not immediately take the new ball and Zaib swept and pulled Sayer for four in the 82nd over, the first boundary taking the stand to 50.
McKay returned from the Wantage Road End for the second cherry in the 87th over but Zaib continued to look strong driving through cover, collecting another brace of boundaries in that region.
Dexter had been bowling with the old ball and switched ends to operate with McKay. It was an inspired move by Mark Cosgrove as the all-rounder took the sixth wicket, Zaib (43) edging to second slip to end a partnership of 81. It was Eckersley’s fourth catch of the innings following his record-breaking achievements with the bat.
A couple of consecutive nicks off McKay by Newton rolled to the boundary with the first of those ensuring the batsman had a new career-best score. The right-hander then played a beautiful stroke through mid-on to take his boundary tally to 20.
Kleinveldt (12) struck a couple of boundaries through the off-side but Charlie Shreck made things happen upon his return from the Wantage Road End.
The seamer enticed Newton into a rare false shot as he pulled high into the air, the ball just dropping short of Sayer running in from deep square leg. From the following delivery, the same fielder instigated Kleinveldt’s downfall with a direct hit.
To prove the earlier incident was a blip, Newton got on top of the bounce to play several pull shots as he progressed to 150 from 282 balls (21x4) and the hosts went to tea at 325-7, a deficit of 194.
Newton started the evening session with intent, cracking the first ball through extra for four before going on to collect boundaries through mid-on and down to fine leg as the stand with Steven Crook passed 50.
Crook, batting with Zaib as a runner, offered useful support in an innings high stand of 101*. The all-rounder collected his first boundary from the 53rd delivery faced by striking through cover.
Leicestershire then suffered a blow as McKay was unable to complete the 117th over after picking up a lower limb muscle injury.
Crook (31 not out) collected a brace of boundaries at the end of the next offering as Northants avoided the follow-on and Newton marched on to record his double hundred.
The landmark came from 342 balls with his 29th four, a glance down to long leg off Raine, and Wakely called in his batsmen shortly after they registered the 100 partnership. McKay, Dexter and Sayer ended with two wickets apiece as Leicestershire added two bowling points to their four batting points.
Leicestershire’s second innings began nicely as Robson struck a trio of early boundaries, including a couple of trademark strokes through backward point and the covers.
Horton matched his colleague’s efforts before the close, including rocking back to pull Ben Sanderson through mid-wicket. He also leant into a beautiful off-drive despite Keogh extracting some turn from around the wicket, and cut Zaib’s slow left arm into a big gap at backward point.
Their good work ensured that the game is nicely poised ahead of the final day with play set to resume at 11am at Wantage Road.
Bowling figures for Leicestershire: McKay 23.4-2-78-2, Raine 21-5-65-0, Shreck 28-5-88-0, Sayer 30-4-113-2, Dexter 19-2-35-2, Cosgrove 2.2-0-11-0.
