GRACE ROAD

(Day two of four: Derbyshire won toss)

Derbyshire 194 and 16 for none. Leicestershire 208 (G Smith 54, P Nixon 46; J Needham six for 49)

Lunch

The wickets have continued to fall here, but Leicestershire have shown some fight through a fourth-wicket partnership of 49 between Greg Smith and Josh Cobb, and an unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 46 between Smith and Paul Nixon.

On a pitch like this, such alliances are valuable currency. Smith, unbeaten on 48, is now the game’s top scorer.

Graham Wagg, at the end of a fine season, took two wickets in three balls earlier in the day, swinging the ball back in sharply to have Boeta Dippenaar leg-before and bowling HD Ackerman.

As an end-of-season treat, we are all hoping here that Greg Smith, the Derbyshire off-spinner, dismisses Greg Smith, the Leicestershire batsman. Just a shame that Greg Smith, the former Nottinghamshire seam bowler, has not been signed by either of these counties. Still, there’s always next season.

Tea

Leicestershire scraped their way to a batting point and a first-innings lead, despite the efforts of Jake Needham, the off-spinner, who completed his maiden five-wicket championship haul and finished with six for 49.

There is help in this pitch for spin bowlers as well as seamers and Needham found turn to bowl Greg Smith for 54 and have Paul Nixon caught at square-leg from a top-edged sweep for 46. Leicestershire lost their last six wickets for 56 runs and now Derbyshire’s batsmen must now once again run the gauntlet.