Dexter keeps Foxes alive
Tue 6 Sep 2016
Leicestershire versus Sussex, Specsavers County Championship, Day 1:
SCORECARD | Available through ESPN Cricinfo HERE
INTERVIEW | Neil Dexter spoke to BBC Radio Leicester's Richard Rae at stumps, the interview is available HERE
HIGHLIGHTS | The highlights of the first day are available HERE
REPORT | Neil Dexter produced a terrific performance with both bat and ball as Leicestershire fought back on the first day of the Specsavers County Championship match at the Fischer County Ground.
Dexter top-scored with 52 but Leicestershire were dismissed for 135 as the experience and youth of Steve Magoffin (18-5-50-5) and Jofra Archer (15-6-31-4) combined to good effect.
Sussex were given a great platform by Chris Nash and Ed Joyce, who shared an opening stand of 82, before Dexter ripped through the order with a maiden Leicestershire five-for.
The all-rounder claimed stunning figures of 5-41 and Charlie Shreck chipped in with two wickets as Sussex, who had a spell where they lost seven wickets for 74 runs, closed at 182-7.
The teams went into the game separated by only three points in fourth and fifth with the incentive of moving up to third with a good points haul given it was a game in hand on Worcestershire.
Leicestershire welcomed back Clint McKay and Zak Chappell from injury in place of Richard Jones and Dieter Klein while Sussex showed three changes as Joyce, Archer and Phil Salt came in for Tom Haines, Ajmal Shahzad and Danny Briggs.
Brown decided against a coin toss on an overcast morning at the FCG and was immediately in the thick of the action.
Former Leicestershire overseas seamer Magoffin struck with the very first delivery of the game, the ball coming off the inside edge of Paul Horton’s bat before going through to Brown.
The first boundary came in the ninth over of the day when Angus Robson struck a handsome cover drive off Magoffin and Dexter also produced three stylish shots in that vicinity before caressing one past the fielder at mid-off.
The 50 stand came up in the 19th over before a second wicket fell shortly afterwards, Robson (18) offering no stroke and seeing two stumps uprooted by Archer.
Dexter continued to play well but lost another partner before the interval, Leicestershire’s leading scorer Mark Cosgrove (4) trapped leg before by a Magoffin delivery that shaped back in.
County went to lunch at 90-3 but slipped into real trouble by losing four wickets for the addition of ten runs in the space of 20 deliveries.
Mark Pettini (7) was bowled by Archer and although Dexter completed a 108-ball 50 (9x4), he too saw his stumps disturbed by the lively young seamer.
Lewis Hill (1) was also bowled, this time playing Magoffin on to his wicket, while McKay was held low down at first slip by David Wiese off the same bowler.
Leicestershire added another 35 runs from that point, thanks in large to Ned Eckersley, who pulled three boundaries in his score of 19.
Magoffin went on to claim a five-for by bowling Chappell (10) and Archer then produced a jaffa from around the wicket that Ben Raine (2) nicked to a diving Brown.
Number six Eckersley (19) was the last batsman to be dismissed, perishing as he had prospered by hitting Wiese high to Magoffin at mid-on as he tried to manipulate the ball to the leg-side.
Leicestershire were unable to make a breakthrough in the 11 remaining overs of the session, Nash and Joyce compiling a stand of 45 despite Cosgrove rotating his seamers.
Nash, who frustrated County during a marathon second innings at Hove earlier this season, again looked in good touch. The opener struck eight boundaries in an entertaining 58-ball fifty, including a trio of pleasant cover drives.
The solid Joyce (24) had been happy to play second fiddle to Nash but was dismissed by a Shreck delivery that nipped beautifully off the seam before hitting the stumps.
Leicestershire had an opening and capitalised on it with Dexter really coming to the fore. The all-rounder nipped one back to clip the stumps of Nash (65), and after Shreck had Luke Wells (8) safely held by Robson at first slip, claimed four further wickets in as many overs.
There were two bursts of identical entries on the scorecard, Craig Cachopa and Fynn Hudson-Prentice caught at the wicket by Eckersley for 15 apiece, before Salt (2) and Wiese (5) were pinned in front.
It was an excellent recovery from the Foxes but Sussex skipper Brown ensured his side still closed with a handy lead of 47. Brown struck four boundaries in an unbeaten 28 and Ollie Robinson (8*) offered useful support in a stand currently worth 26.
Bowling figures for Leicestershire: McKay 10-0-44-0, Raine 3-0-7-0, Shreck 11-0-41-2, Chappell 6-0-41-0, Dexter 12-3-41-5, Cosgrove 1-0-2-0.
* Thanks to Ed Melia for the photograph of Neil Dexter, pictured here bowling in the last match against Essex.
