Connoisseurs coming to see the East Midlands derby might have wondered if they were on the right continent. A perusal of the scorecard confirmed that 13 of the participating players were born outside the UK, with ten hailing from South Africa. A record, and an unwanted one, for county cricket was surely set.

For 33 overs, or a third of the day, Northamptonshire’s quartet of former South Africa bowlers tried to dismiss two former South Africa Test batsmen, Hylton Ackerman and Boeta Dippenaar, during their third-wicket stand of 109. Jason Brown and David Lucas, two England-qualified bowlers, also had a go. Eventually, though, both batsmen, who played beautifully, fell to their compatriots. Ackerman, chasing a fifth hundred of the season in all cricket, was caught at slip and Dippenaar, on his home Championship debut, played on, his cultured 80 containing 14 fours, many elegantly on-driven.

High though the standard of cricket was, the make-up of the sides, featuring a combined total of nine Kolpak players, cannot be an ideal scenario as far as the ECB is concerned. Leicestershire, for their part, are unrepentant, with David Smith, their chief executive, keen to justify his club’s policy. “We will use senior and role model players from overseas to develop our youngsters, who will get their opportunity, but we want them to come into a competitive side and learn in a competitive environment.” Smith said.

Thought was given by Tim Boon, the senior coach, and Jim Allenby, the locum captain, to bowling first on a well-grassed pitch, but their decision to bat was justified. There was some early movement, Tom New being bowled by a trimmer from Lucas, but a strong wind and a ball that went out of shape hampered Northamptonshire’s attack. It was eventually changed in the 33rd over, but the replacement did not swing, either. The Australian-born Allenby, who, Smith emphasised, wants to play for England, dug in to make a solid 108-ball fifty.

Scoreboard

Leicestershire: First Innings

T J New b Lucas 11

M A G Boyce c Peters b Hall 37

H D Ackerman c Hall b Boje 62

H H Dippenaar b Klusener 80

J Allenby not out 63

J du Toit not out 20

Extras (lb 5, w 2, nb 8) 15

Total (4 wkts, 96 overs) 288

* †P A Nixon, C W Henderson, D du Preez, M N Malik and J J C Lawson to bat.

Fall of wickets: 1-17, 2-75, 3-184, 4-234.

Bowling: Van der Wath 16-2-66-0; Lucas 18-5-79-1; Boje 21-6-44-1; Hall 10-4-20-1; Klusener 16-6-45-1; Brown 15-6-29-0.

Northamptonshire: S D Peters, M H Wessels, D J G Sales, R A White, *N Boje, L Klusener, †N J O’Brien, A J Hall, J J van der Wath, D S Lucas, J F Brown.

Umpires: M J D Bodenham and B Leadbeater.