Northants come up just short

Robbie Joseph: two wickets on rain-hit opening day

Rain: no play possible on day two

Kyle Coetzer: century was the bedrock of Northants' innings

Lee Daggett: took 4-76

Leicestershire held out for a draw in a tense finish to their Division Two match against Northamptonshire at Grace Road.

Having been set a victory target of 341 in 86 overs, the home side finished on 289-9 with last-wicket pair Wayne White and Matthew Hoggard surviving the last 9.2 overs to deny Northants their second win of the season.

At one stage Leicestershire looked the more likely winners, with Ramnaresh Sarwan hitting 94 and Josh Cobb 59, to leave them needing 101 runs off 20 overs.

But then they lost five wickets for 28 runs in 10 overs before White and Hoggard salvaged an unlikely draw.

But it was a fine effort from Northants who were reduced to a four-man bowling attack because of an injury to Chaminda Vaas that kept him off the field for the final day.

Lee Daggett took 4-76 and David Willey 2-70 but, despite claiming the second new ball with the score at 277-9 and six overs remaining, Northants were unable to claim the one wicket they needed for victory.

The home side took five points from the game and Northants seven.

Day Three

A century from Kyle Coetzer helped Northamptonshire claim four batting bonus points in their rain-affected Division Two clash with Leicestershire at Grace Road.

Alex Wakely also chipped in with a solid 63, before all-rounder David Willey hit a quickfire 45 allowing Northants to declare at 352-7 off 109 overs.

There were two wickets each for seamers Matthew Hoggard, Robbie Joseph and Nathan Buck - playing his first championship game of the season after a back injury - as the hosts earned two bonus points.

That left Leicestershire with 16 overs to negotiate before the close and they were soon in trouble, losing two early wickets.

Sri Lankan veteran Chaminda Vaas made the inroads, dismissing Greg Smith and Kadeer Ali, who both edged to wicketkeeper Niall O'Brien as the home side reached stumps on 38-2.

But with more than a day and a half already lost to the weather and barring some highly imaginative declarations, there looks to be little else left in the match other than a battle for bonus points.

Day Two

The second day of Leicestershire's game against Northamptonshire at Grace Road was abandoned in mid-afternoon without a ball being bowled.

Despite breezy conditions, sunny intervals and some hard work by the groundstaff, the saturated outfield and some areas on the edge of the square failed to dry out sufficiently following torrential overnight rain.

After a series of inspections, umpires Michael Gough and Alex Wharf decided soon after 3pm that no play would be possible.

There had been only 31.2 overs of play on the first day, during which Northamptonshire reached 99 for three, with Kyle Coetzer unbeaten on 43.

Day One

Robbie Joseph took his tally to 14 wickets in two home games for Leicestershire before rain brought a premature end to day one of their County Championship Division Two match against Northamptonshire at Grace Road.

After an uninterrupted morning session, rain swept in during the afternoon and the game was abandoned for the day shortly before 4.30pm with the visitors 99-3 off 31.2 overs having been put into bat.

Fit-again Leicestershire captain Matthew Hoggard decided to bowl first after winning the toss and bagged the first wicket in his second over, nipping a delivery back to trap Robert Newton leg before wicket with only one run on the board.

But Stephen Peters and Kyle Coetzer dug in to launch a Northamptonshire recovery, punishing some short length bowling by the Leicestershire attack. The pair had three boundaries each when the 50 came up in the 17th over, and looked well set to share a big partnership.

But Joseph returned for a second spell and immediately snapped up a wicket with his first ball when he had Peters caught behind for 32 to end a stand of 73 in 20 overs.

David Sales soon followed, also edging behind to leave Northamptonshire 88-3. They reached 95-3 by lunch but only another eight balls were possible in the afternoon before the rain arrived, with Coetzer still there on 43.

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