Huge Hill & Masood Partnership Leads Superb Second Day Batting Display

By Richard Rae, ECB Reporters’ Network, supported by Rothesay

A resilient batting performance saw Leicestershire go a long way towards securing the draw that depending on results elsewhere, could prove enough to see them over the line to promotion.

Big half-centuries from Lewis Hill, his fifth of the season, and Shan Masood, on his championship debut for the county, saw Leicestershire recover from 86-3 to secure a batting bonus point before closing on 270-4 on the second day of their Rothesay County Championship match against Gloucestershire.

Both achieved personal landmarks during the course of their innings, Masood passing 12,000 first-class runs, and Hill 5,000.

Leicestershire still trail the visitors by 212, but a poor weather forecast for days three and four means the draw is now strong favourite, and there should be enough play for Leicestershire to secure at least two more batting bonus points. A return of 14 or 15 points could prove sufficient to confirm their return to the top division.

Gloucestershire resumed their first innings on 382-7, but play began with one of those somewhat unedifying periods of county cricket when the bowling side opts to hurry through a few overs to improve a negative over rate, which in this case saw Leicestershire opening batters Rishi Patel and Sol Budinger squeezing eleven overs of their occasional off-spin into the first 20 minutes of play.

Zaman Akhter and Matt Taylor built a half century partnership before, with the seamers now back into the attack, Taylor top edged a pull at a short delivery from Logan van Beek, and Lewis Hill took an assured catch at deep square leg.

Van Beek then produced a fine delivery to bowl Josh Shaw, but Akhter and last man Ajeet Singh Dale laid about them to good effect, Akhter registering a third half century of the season to underline his status as aspiring all-rounder before edging an Ian Holland out-swinger to wicket-keeper Ben Cox.

Taylor and Singh Dale looked dangerous with the ball, finding sufficient movement to beat both Patel and Budinger in impressive spells before lunch. Budinger could consider himself unfortunate however, when having hit Taylor for consecutive boundaries, the left-hander got a delivery that kept markedly low before thudding into off-stump.

Patel followed shortly after the break, an uncertain defensive push at Josh Shaw giving Ollie Price a straightforward catch at second slip, and though Holland tried to dig in, the Leicestershire captain's inclination to stay on the back foot cost him when a fullish Taylor delivery stayed low and pinned him leg before.

Hill, however, has been one of Leicestershire's most consistent run scorers this season, and having played himself in, the 34-year-old former captain began to unfurl some fine shots, including four boundaries in five balls before a glorious on-drive off Shaw took him past 50, the half-century coming off 57 deliveries.

Masood, coming into the side in place of Peter Handscomb, also began watchfully, but as the ball got older and the bowlers began to tire, he too began to show his class, with one particular late cut verging on the exquisite. The partnership had passed 150 when Hill, to his dismay, was given out caught behind on 88 off the bowling of Matt Taylor.