Two former pupils of Oakham School, Stuart Broad and Tom Croft, won their first England caps at cricket and rugby during the winter and there was more cause for celebration in Rutland yesterday when Matthew Boyce scored his maiden first-class century for Leicestershire.

Boyce, who opened the batting with Broad, now an England fast bowler, and played scrum half behind Croft, the England flanker, at school, went on to take a degree in management and economics at Nottingham University before playing county cricket.

A compact left-hander, he scored his first two Championship fifties in the opening match against Middlesex and yesterday moved from his overnight 32 to 106 before he was bowled off his pads driving at James Anyon. He had batted for just over five hours and hit two sixes and 12 fours.

Hylton Ackerman, who made 104, joined him in a partnership of 182, a record for the county's second wicket against Warwickshire, before falling to Ian Salisbury, who finished with five for 67, only his second five-wicket haul in seven seasons.

Two more stoppages yesterday meant that a total of 145 overs were lost to rain so there was never any chance of a result but there was no lack of intensity when Leicestershire resumed on 125 for one, still needing 159 to avoid the follow-on.

Boyce and Ackerman made that a formality but there were still bonus points to play for and two determined old professionals in Salisbury, now 38, and Paul Nixon, only a year his junior, to squabble over them.

Salisbury was having the better of the argument when both Boeta Dippenaar, the former South Africa batsman making his Leicestershire debut, and Jim Allenby fell to horribly miscued shots but Nixon bit back with an unbeaten 63 off 101 balls with 10 fours.

He was running out of partners when Salisbury had Dillon du Preez and Nadeem Malik lbw with successive balls to claim only his second five-wicket haul in seven seasons but Leicestershire just managed a fourth batting point to leave the two sides locked at the top of the second division.

Scoreboard

Warwickshire: First Innings 433 for 8 dec (T R Ambrose 156 not out, N M Carter 84, I J L Trott 82)

Leicestershire: First Innings (overnight 125-1)

M A G Boyce b Anyon 106
H D Ackerman b Salisbury 104
H H Dippenaar c Anyon b Salisbury 14
J Allenby c Bell b Salisbury 6
*P A Nixon not out 63
J du Toit c Ambrose b Carter 6
C W Henderson c Ambrose b Maddy 1
D du Preez lbw b Salisbury 15
M N Malik lbw b Salisbury 0
G J P Kruger b Zondeki 6
Extras (lb 7, w 1, nb 28) 36
Total (100.4 overs) 357

Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-184, 3-216, 4-233, 5-279, 6-298, 7-315, 8-342, 9-342.
Bowling: Zondeki 17.4-2-64-2; Carter 21-3-90-1; Anyon 19-3-70-1; Botha 13-5-34-0; Maddy 9-0-25-1; Salisbury 21-5-67-5.

Umpires: M J Harris and R K Illingworth.