NORTHAMPTON

(day three of four: Leicestershire won toss)

Northamptonshire 373 and 29 for 2; Leicestershire 173 and 226 (P A Nixon 73, D S Lucas 3 for 45).

Northamptonshire (21pts) beat Leicestershire (3) by 8 wickets.

Lunch

It was a much fresher morning than it had been on the first two days and there was not as much movement for the Northamptonshire seamers but Leicestershire still found it desperately hard work when they resumed needing 198 to avoid an innings defeat with nine wickets in hand.

Matthew Boyce and Tom New did take their second wicket partnership to 41 but then New fell to the left arm spin of Nicky Boje, the Northamptonshire captain. His sixth ball turned and bounced and New could only glove it to short leg.

Jacques du Toit perished driving loosely at David Wigley, Boyce was caught behind off Andrew Hall after battling his way to 31 off 106 balls and when Hylton Ackerman was caught at slip off Boje, Leicestershire were reeling at 64 for five – still 136 away from making Northamptonshire bat again.

Tea

Boeta Dippenaar, who is struggling to make an impact as Leicestershire’s overseas player, and James Allenby held up Northamptonshire for a while but they had added only 28 when Johannes van der Wath broke through again. Dippenaar tried to withdraw his bat from a lifting ball but it took his glove on its way to the wicketkeeper.

Defeat well inside three days was looming when Allenby was leg before to Lucas but Paul Nixon, the Leicestershire captain, was not going down without a fight.

He clipped Boje over midwicket, pulled Van der Wath for three fours off successive balls and drove Wigley for two more boundaries in the same over. He was still there at tea and, with Tom Smith giving him staunch support, Leicestershire were within 33 runs of avoiding an innings defeat with three wickets left.

Close

Nixon and Smith had put on 66 in 25 overs when Smith was leg before to Hall after making a gallant 31 off 84 balls and still Nixon would not concede defeat.

A perfectly-timed reverse-sweep off Boje took him past fifty for the sixth time in the championship this season and a leg glance off Van der Wath saved his side from an innings defeat.

By then, though, he had lost Claude Henderson, caught at first slip off Van der Wath, and was trying to score as many runs as he could in the company of Dillon du Preez, the last man, when he mistimed a hook off Lucas and was caught at long leg.

He had scored 73 off 127 balls with 10 fours but Northamptonshire still needed only 27 to claim their third championship victory and they got them inside six overs.