An unpredictable pitch, made more so by spending the morning and much of the afternoon under the covers, is producing an entertaining match, though that may not be a description the bruised batsmen would use.
The loss of half the day’s play to the weather notwithstanding, Leicestershire lost six wickets as the Lancashire seamers made the ball swing, move off the pitch, and occasionally rear up, leaving their opponents a nervous 24 runs short of the follow-on.
With the captain Mark Cosgrove still at the wicket, on 65 not out, the Foxes should achieve that particular target, but assuming the rain holds off, they will not relish the prospect of batting again to save the game.
When play did finally begin, at 3.30pm, Cosgrove’s opposite number Steven Croft, having resumed on 98 not out from his side’s overnight score of 356 for nine, reached his century with the 13th four of his innings before lifting Ben Raine to Rob Taylor at deep backward square.
Already, however, the pitch looked to have taken on new life, Raine getting one delivery to leap past Croft’s chest, and Leicestershire made the worst possible start when the opener Angus Robson was given out caught by Karl Brown at short leg off the bowling of Kyle Jarvis. The young Australian made his disagreement at the decision uncomfortably apparent.
Ned Eckersley was then bowled by Tom Bailey, the tall young seamer bringing a delivery back into the right-hander and knocking his off stump out of the ground. Lewis Hill fought hard before receiving a ball from Jordan Clark which rose viciously from a length to take the edge, but Neil Pinner had less excuse for hanging his bat out at a Nathan Buck outswinger, and being unfussily held by Croft at second slip.
Niall O’Brien joined Cosgrove in building a partnership of 59 before Davies held a thin edge behind the stumps off Jarvis, but Cosgrove, having played and missed a number of times early in his innings, was beginning to play more fluently, hitting eight fours in going to his half-century.
Raine gave him valuable support in a partnership of 51 for the sixth wicket, but in the penultimate over of the day the all-rounder chopped a short ,wide delivery from Buck – a former Leicestershire team-mate – into his stumps.
