Disciplined County restrict Essex to 266-9
Sun 19 Jun 2016
Essex versus Leicestershire, Specsavers County Championship, Day 1:
SCORECARD | Available through ESPN Cricinfo HERE
INTERVIEW | Charlie Shreck speaks to BBC Radio Leicester’s Richard Rae HERE
HIGHLIGHTS | The highlights of the first day are available HERE
REPORT | Charlie Shreck returned season's best figures of 4-79 while Clint McKay again came to the fore as Leicestershire restricted Essex to 266-9 on the first day at Chelmsford.
McKay dismissed both openers with the new ball and finished with 3-46 as the leaders were in danger of posting below 300 in the first innings of a Specsavers County Championship game for the first time in 2016.
Ravi Bopara battled hard to post Essex’s best score but both the nature of the innings and the timing of his demise typified Leicestershire’s performance.
The normally free-scoring Bopara was forced to bide his time as the Foxes operated with discipline. The batsman’s second boundary came from the 90th ball faced and, all told, his 61 was compiled in a 57-over stay at the crease.
Leicestershire regularly took wickets at inopportune times for their opponents - only one partnership lasted more than 12.2 overs. Bopara fell in the tea over, chopping Mark Cosgrove’s third delivery of the day on to his stumps.
Captain Cosgrove had earlier decided to let the bowlers have first use of the wicket, therefore becoming the first captain in Leicestershire's history to opt not to have a coin toss in a Championship game.
County showed two changes to the side that drew at Kent with Aadil Ali and Rob Taylor coming in for Niall O'Brien and James Sykes. There was a role change for Ned Eckersley who took the gloves in O'Brien's absence due to a calf injury.
Essex's attack had a fresh look with all-rounder Jesse Ryder and seam duo David Masters and Jamie Porter returning to the starting XI. They missed the draw at Northants, a game Essex looked set to win before rain arrived on the final day.
Cosgrove's move paid immediate dividends as leading wicket-taker McKay removed the openers within the opening half hour of play.
Jaik Mickleburgh (0) was bowled in the first over after pushing forwards at a delivery that nipped back to flick the off stump, while Nick Browne (7) was also beaten by an inswinging delivery that pinned him in front of the pegs.
Westley and Bopara steadied the Essex ship, the former recording an 88-ball fifty as the stand progressed to 72 before lunch.
The in-form batsman set about the repair job with a succession of crisply-hit boundaries including some nice drives down the ground and through the covers. Bopara then cut Shreck uppishly square to the ropes to bring up the 50 partnership in 15.1 overs.
Westley’s eighth boundary of the innings, an edge through the slips off the hard-working Ben Raine, brought up his personal fifty just before the break.
Lunch was taken with the score at 86-2 and Westley stroked the first ball of the afternoon session through mid-wicket for four.
But he promptly fell to Shreck two balls later, shouldering arms to a delivery that made contact with his raised bat before dropping on to the stumps. It ended an innings high stand both in terms of runs and balls faced, 76 in 25 overs.
Lawrence (21) replaced Westley, striking Shreck for successive boundaries square to both sides of the wicket, and driving McKay for a scrumptious off-drive before he fell into a trap.
The experienced Shreck put Taylor out on the hook and the Lawrence took on a bouncer, hitting it straight down the fielder’s throat with the score at 132.
Bopara and Ryder moved the score beyond 150 before the England international posted a half-century. The milestone, from the 128th ball faced, contained just four boundaries to show how hard the batsman worked for his runs.
Leicestershire kept persevering and McKay pocketed a third wicket as New Zealander Ryder (18), whose first four scoring strokes had all found the fence, dragged on after the stand yielded 37.
Another alliance was developing between dangerous duo Bopara and Ryan ten Doeschate before the interval but Cosgrove put paid to it. Bopara became the latest batsman to play on to his wicket after attempting a drive at the sort of delivery he had left well alone to that point.
Cosgrove’s counterpart ten Doeschate regularly found gaps in the field, including hitting Taylor for two fours in a row, before he was caught at the wicket by Eckersley flashing at Neil Dexter for 42 from 48 balls.
Eckersley took two more catches to make it three in five-and-a-half overs, providing Shreck with his third and fourth wickets after the seamer switched to the Hayes Close End, pouching James Foster and Matthew Quinn.
With the light deteriorating, the umpires took the players off 12.2 overs early with the last-wicket pair of Masters and Porter facing the second new ball. It had been a good day for Leicestershire, who kept the run rate under control for the duration.
Leicestershire bowling figures: McKay 15-2-46-3, Raine 16.4-6-34-0, Shreck 21-3-79-4, Taylor 18-4-63-0, Dexter 10-2-23-1, Cosgrove 3-0-5-1.
* Thanks to Ed Melia for the photo of Charlie
