Leicestershire have been roundly criticised for having six Kolpak players on their staff, but their stated aim is that such players will help their own talented youngsters to develop. Two of their bright young batsmen played their part in the deal yesterday, with Tom New, 23, making his maiden championship century, having added 143 for the first wicket with Matthew Boyce, 22, who made his first fifty.

The pair of left-handers helped to engineer a remarkable turnaround. On the first day, Middlesex had been coasting on 240 for two, but they lost their last eight wickets for 72 runs, 30 of which came from a last-wicket stand between Chris Silverwood and Steven Finn. Leicestershire's batsmen then proceeded serenely on a sluggish pitch that frustrated Middlesex's bowlers. New timed the ball sweetly off his legs for Leicestershire and when he leg-glanced his 228th ball for his fourteenth four, off Tim Murtagh, he leapt for joy. With Hylton Ackerman, he has added 103 for the second wicket.

New's relief on completing his century was understandable. Last season, he had made eight fifties without going on to reach three figures. He had endured just one anxious moment, when he lost his concentration, attempted an ugly drive at Shaun Udal and miscued towards Owais Shah at mid-on. But Shah, weighed down by several sweaters to protect him against a bitter wind, was slow to react and the ball fell safely to ground.

Boyce had been granted a reprieve when he had made just five, edging Murtagh to gully, where Ed Joyce reached skywards but was unable to cling on to a difficult chance. In only his third first-class game, Boyce demonstrated a compact technique and a crisp off-drive, dramatically improving on his previous scores of 4, 5 and 6. He had hit eight fours from 162 balls before inside-edging a drive from Finn onto his leg stump.

There have been enough recent disappointments in these parts to prevent the locals from getting overexcited, despite this encouraging start. On the opening day of last season, John Maunders and Darren Robinson added 124 for the first wicket against Nottinghamshire, but Leicestershire were then bowled out for 299, lost by nine wickets and won only two games all season. Yesterday's performance promised better times may be in store this year.

Middlesex: First Innings (overnight 257-5)

A J Strauss c Cummins b Rowe 21

B A Godleman c Cummins b Henderson 41

O A Shah c Du Toit b Allenby 116

*E T Smith c Boyce b Malik 56

E C Joyce b Malik 18

N R D Compton lbw b Cummins 1

D C Nash c Ackerman b Malik 0

T J Murtagh lbw b Cummins 8

S D Udal b Cummins 1

C E W Silverwood not out 21

S T Finn b Henderson 13

Extras (b 8, lb 4, w 2, nb 2) 16

Total (106.2 overs) 312

Fall of wickets 1-46, 2-95, 3-240, 4-252, 5-257, 6-264, 7-269, 8-273, 9-282.

Bowling Malik 22-5-68-3; Cummins 24-5-73-3; Rowe 13-5-46-1; Lawson 11-0-51-0; Henderson 27.2-11-41-2; Allenby 9-1-21-1.

Leicestershire: First Innings

T J New not out 104

M A G Boyce b Finn 69

H D Ackerman not out 63

Extras (b 2, lb 8) 10

Total (1 wkt, 80 overs) 246

J du Toit, J Allenby, *P A Nixon, C W Henderson, D T Rowe, R A G Cummins, M N Malik and J J C Lawson to bat.

Fall of wicket: 1-143.

Bowling: Silverwood 15-1-56-0; Murtagh 17-2-67-0; Finn 19-7-35-1; Udal 28-6-77-0; Shah 1-0-1-0.

Umpires: A A Jones and P Willey.