What has been a miserable match for bowlers should end in stalemate today after only two-and-a-half hours' play was possible yesterday. Although two wickets fell early in the day, Northamptonshire's fourth-wicket pair of David Sales and Rob White assumed control to add an unbroken 119 in 31 overs before the rain came at 2.10pm, eventually leading to an abandonment. By that time, the follow-on target of 378 looked invitingly close.

Sales has a long history of making runs against his East Midlands neighbours. Another convincing fifty yesterday included some crunching drives, including two down the ground for six off Claude Henderson. White, a natural strokeplayer himself, was 12 balls quicker to his fifty, reaching it from 84 balls.

The two wickets that Leicestershire claimed came in the fifth and sixth overs of the day. Nadeem Malik produced a snorter that lifted and left Riki Wessels, brushing his edge. Niall O'Brien was also caught behind, chasing a wide one from Dillon du Preez, the 26-year-old pace bowler from South Africa. The Irishman's 78 came off 119 balls, and included 16 fours.

Scoreboard

Leicestershire: First Innings 527

(J du Toit 103, H H Dippenaar 80, P A Nixon 79, J Allenby 70, H D Ackerman 62; N Boje 4 for 120)

Northamptonshire: First Innings (overnight 144-1)

N J O'Brien c Nixon b Du Preez 78

M H Wessels c Nixon b Malik 33

D J G Sales not out 50

R A White not out 56

Extras (b 9, lb 12, w 1, nb 20) 42

Total (3 wkts, 74.4 overs) 276

*N Boje, L Klusener, A J Hall, J J van der Wath, D S Lucas and J F Brown to bat.

Fall of wickets: 1-49, 2-157, 3-157.

Bowling: Malik 18-3-61-1; Du Preez 15-7-30-1; Henderson 21.4-9-43-0; Lawson 13-1-96-1; Allenby 7-1-25-0.

Umpires: M J D Bodenham and B Leadbeater.

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