County need eight wickets on final day

Leicestershire versus Sussex, Specsavers County Championship, Day 3:

SCORECARD | Available through ESPN Cricinfo HERE 

INTERVIEW | Clint McKay spoke to BBC Radio Leicester's Richard Rae at stumps, the interview is available HERE

HIGHLIGHTS | The highlights of the third day are available HERE

REPORT | Leicestershire will require eight wickets while Sussex need a further 132 runs as the Specsavers County Championship game moved at pace on the third day at the Fischer County Ground.

Vernon Philander and Danny Briggs extended the last wicket alliance to 83 as Sussex posted 284, meaning that Leicestershire had to settle for a first innings lead of 56. 

County were bowled out for 175 second time around, Harry Dearden top-scoring with 36 while Zak Chappell made 27 not out as Sussex were set 232 to win.

The hugely impressive Jofra Archer (6-70) took his match haul to 11-137 while Briggs continued to make his mark on the game, returning 3-40 from 20 overs of quality left arm spin from the Pavilion End.

Ben Raine bowled beautifully and took two wickets in the second innings as the visitors closed at 100-2 to set up an intriguing final day.

Sussex added eight runs to their overnight 276-9 before Raine (3-49) trapped Briggs lbw for 27, leaving Philander 73 not out. It was the highest alliance of the innings and a tenth wicket record for Sussex against Leicestershire in first-class matches.

Openers Paul Horton and Dearden made steady progress in taking the second innings score to 30 but Leicestershire then slipped to 46-2. 

A typical snorter from Archer saw Horton (13) glove a delivery that got big on him to ‘keeper Michael Burgess while Colin Ackermann (3) got a touch to a leg-side delivery from Chris Jordan.

Cosgrove hit a brace of dismissive boundaries in the 19th over and given Sussex were without overseas star Philander due to a injury sustained in the field, Leicestershire were in a strong position with Dearden looking set and their in-form captain immediately getting into his stride.

However, Chris Nash opted for a partnership of contrasting paces by introducing Briggs for the 21st over and it proved to be a very shrewd move.

The spinner dismissed Cosgrove with his second delivery, the left-hander trapped lbw on the back foot for 16, and Archer, still charging in from the Bennett End then pinned Eckersley (1) in front to leave County at 72-4.

Dearden remained unbeaten on 33 at the interval having played some fine strokes, including three boundaries through extra cover, but Leicestershire’s lead was only worth 128 with six wickets remaining.

It was imperative that a lengthy partnership was formed to take the sting out of the situation that had developed before lunch but County lost Pettini, Dearden and Tom Wells to moments of misfortune as Archer and Briggs doubled their respective wicket tallies for the innings.

The number six batsman attempted to defend an Archer delivery that struck the bottom of the bat and rolled back to dislodge the bails while Dearden tried to get underneath a sharp ball that flicked the glove on the way through.

Wells (24) struck a couple of fours and also pulled Archer for a mighty six in a lively knock but the all-rounder couldn’t believe his luck when spinner Briggs, in the manner of a goalkeeper parrying a football over the bar, deflected a straight drive to Archer at mid-on.

Leicestershire were now at 107-7 and a much-needed period of consolidation was provided by Raine and Chappell. The right-hander collected a couple of boundaries through straight mid-wicket and square-leg and Raine defended stoutly, but the stand ended at 23 when Raine (9) nicked Briggs to Jordan at slip.

McKay (10) was put down at long-off from the bowling of Briggs on 2 but the batsman would become Archer’s tenth victim of the match when edging to Harry Finch at second slip.

The advantage was stretched by a last wicket partnership of 27 between Chappell (27*) and Klein, who hit 21 of those runs, including three boundaries. But Leicestershire’s last man became the sixth wicket of the innings for Archer, who rattled one through his defences.

There were a couple of near misses when the Sussex openers showed hesitation in running and the Foxes were on the board when Raine bowled Harry Finch (14) for the second time in the match. 

Raine and McKay, who has conceded only 46 runs in 31 overs in the match, continued to cause problems but a number of fielding extras helped the visitors as they moved to 52-1 before a brief stoppage for bad light.

While Nash was content to knock the ball around and defend stoutly, Wells unleashed a couple of square drives to the ropes as the stand passed 50.

Nash then had a reprieve when a nick off Klein was put down by Horton at first slip but the skipper departed in the next over, Raine finding the outside edge on this occasion with Eckersley completing the dismissal. Briggs (10*) was sent in as nightwatchman and he guided Sussex to stumps alongside Wells (27*).

Bowling figures for Leicestershire (first innings): Klein 13-1-72-1, Chappell 13-0-61-2, McKay 22-11-35-4, Raine 20.5-4-49-3, Wells 4-0-24-0, Ackermann 12-1-28-0.

Bowling figures for Leicestershire (second innings): Chappell 3-0-19-2, Raine 10-1-25-2, McKay 9-4-11-0, Klein 7-0-22-0, Ackermann 1-0-1-0.

* Thanks to Ed Melia for the photograph of Ben Raine.