Jhulan Goswami will lead the side, and Amita Chopra, like in the 2009 World Cup, will be her deputy

Cricinfo staff15-Feb-2010The offspinner Nooshin Al Khadeer has been recalled to Indian squad for the first two matches of the one-day series against England starting February 19 in Bangalore. Jhulan Goswami will lead the side, and Amita Chopra, like in the 2009 World Cup, will be her deputy.Al Khadeer, a former No. 1 ranked international bowler, was not part of the World Cup in Australia or India’s squad for the World Twenty20 in England last June. From the squad that played the World Cup – which was India’s last one-day assignment – the notable absentees are Reema Malhotra, Sulakshana Naik, and Snehal Pradhan.England, the world champions and World Twenty20 champions, will be playing five one-dayers and three Twenty20 matches. The tour will open with a warm-up match against Board President’s XI in Bangalore on February 17. The city will also host the first two ODIs on February 19 and 21. The next two matches have been scheduled for February 24 and 26 in Visakapatnam, with Mumbai’s MIG stadium hosting the final ODI.Squad: Jhulan Goswami (capt), Mithali Raj, Anjum Chopra, Rumeli Dhar, Amita Sharma, Priyanka Roy, Anagha Despande (wk), Poonam Raut, Harmanpreet Kaur, Thirush Kamini, Gouher Sultana, Nooshin Al Khadeer, Preeti Dimri, Sonia Dabir.

Afghanistan continued their fairytale rise in international cricket with a tense victory over tournament favourites Ireland in the World Twenty20 Qualifier in Dubai

Cricinfo staff09-Feb-2010
Scorecard
Mohammad Nabi produced a magnificent allround display to continue Afghanistan’s fairytale rise in international cricket with victory over Ireland, in a gripping match at the World Twenty20 Qualifier in Dubai.In a fluctuating contest, neither side were separated for long until Afghanistan surged to victory with four wickets from the final four legitimate deliveries of the match. The day began with William Porterfield winning the toss and inserting Afghanistan on a lively pitch in the International Stadium. Trent Johntson, Ireland’s evergreen opening bowler, made the most of the bounce available, getting his side off to an ideal start with two quick wickets. Karim Sadiq was bowled in Jonhston’s first over before Shafiqullah, lashed out after a couple of dot balls to be caught smartly by John Mooney.It could have been worse for Afghanistan as a number of chances were spilled before Noor Ali and wicketkeeper Mohammad Shahzad steadied things with a 47-run third-wicket stand in just under seven overs. At 57 for 2 at the half-way stage the foundations had been laid for a decent total but Shahzad was run out by Mooney for 12 before Ali fell soon after. He was dismissed by a full-length diving catch by Paul Stirling as he tried to flick Andre Botha into the leg side. It left Afghanistan reeling at 69 for 4 with just over seven overs to go.Nabi immediately arrested the momentum with successive sixes off young left-arm spinner George Dockrell, which was followed by another captain Nowroz Mangal. Though Mangal was stumped the next ball, trying to repeat another heave, the damage had been done with 23-runs from the over. As wickets tumbled around him, Nabi’s blend of quick running and occasional boundary swiping lifted the total to 139 and he finished unbeaten on 43 from 25 balls.As a captain opening the innings, Porterfield had an important role in calming the nerves and setting the tone for the run chase. With a four in the first over and successive, massive sixes over midwicket off Shapoor Zadran in the third, he got off to a flyer. Zadran held his nerve, however, and removed Niall O’Brien off the final ball of the third over. Having already taken 14 from the first five legal deliveries, there was no need for O’Brien to try and smite another boundary, it proved his undoing as he was caught by Ali for 2.Stirling, Ireland’s most promising young player, joined his captain as the two calmly lifted the total to 49 off just six overs. At that stage Ireland looked like they could coast home but Sadiq made up for his earlier disappointment with the bat with a crucial double-strike in the seventh over. First Porterfield was bowled by a sharply-spinning offbeak and then Andre Botha was bowled through that gate from one that came back at him for a duck. Kevin O’Brien and Stirling soon followed as Afghanistan took charge to leave Ireland at 98 for 7, still 41 needed from 33 balls.Johnston and Mooney then wrestled back some of the momentum, putting on 27 in four overs to keep Ireland in the hunt, before Johnston holed out off a full toss from Nabi to leave Ireland needing 14 from the final six balls. They didn’t get close as Hamid Hasan ran out Peter Connell from the first ball and castled Mooney off the second to secure Afghanistan a sensational start in their quest to reach a global tournament.Speaking after the game Afghanistan coach Kabir Khan was delighted with his side’s performance. “It is very heartening to beat a top side like Ireland on a consistent basis. This reflects that we are learning and learning fast,” he said. “It is certainly a jump start for my side as Ireland is the best side in the tournament. The victory has given us a tremendous boost and confidence.”Porterfield, meanwhile, was very disappointed with the way his side imploded today. “We lost it all round really. I don’t think we deserved anything from the game, the way we went at it,” he said.”We didn’t bowl badly but we probably gave them 20 or 30 runs with the amount of dropped catches. But even walking off the field, I would have taken 140, I wasn’t too disappointed to be chasing that. Just the way we went about it with the bat wasn’t good enough. The way we’ve been preparing for the last two weeks has been nowhere near that standard, and it wasn’t good enough.”

A round-up of the fourth day’s matches from the RBS Twenty20 Cup

Cricinfo staff03-Mar-2010Group A
Peshawar Panthers posted an easy 30-run win on the back of Jannisar Khan’s unbeaten half-century and four wickets in an opening spell which snuffed out Quetta Bears’ challenge at the National Stadium.After opting to bat, Peshawar made a competitive 150 with only the top order carrying any weight. Israrullah and Adil Amin gave them a quick start, scoring 46 in five overs before Amin was dismissed by the economical Nasrullah Khan. Isrullah and Jannisar then shared a 26-run stand to keep the run-rate up but Quetta hit back with five quick wickets. Shoaib Khan jnr, bowling his medium-pace, snared three of them while the slow left-arm spin of Jalat Khan stemmed the runs in a spell of 4-0-16-1.But the one man Quetta failed to dislodge turned out to be the decisive player in the end result. Jannisar finished unbeaten on 55 from 42 balls, hitting five fours and a six while adding 24 for the sixth wicket in 11 balls with Mahfooz Sabri. Sabri swung his bat for 17 off eight balls as Peshawar finished their innings on a high.Quetta’s chase began poorly, with Jannisar striking in his first over. He then grabbed three more in a super spell that included a maiden over, leaving Quetta at 46 for 4. That soon became 52 for 6. Taimur Siddiq’s 19-ball 32 led a 52-run stand for the seventh wicket but his dismissal in the 16th over, bowled by Zohaib Khan, allowed Peshawar to regain control. Zohaib picked up his third wicket in the same crucial over and Quetta folded shortly afterward with Umar Gul nipping out the tail.The result means that Peshawar have won one of three games and Quetta have yet to get off the mark in as many attempts.Group C
Islamabad Leopards opened their tournament campaign with a facile nine-wicket win over Abbottabad Rhinos in Karachi. Abbottabad, after opting to bat, were rocked early in the piece by Islamabad’s new-ball pair of Iftikhar Anjum and Azhar Mahmood, who quickly had them at 20 for 4. Mahmood was destructive in his spell, taking three wickets, and it needed a circumspect 53-ball 54 from the opener Yasir Hameed to lend respectability to Abbottabad’s total. His dismissal to Iftikhar in the 17th over was followed by Mohammad Kashif’s 34 as Abbottabad made it to 117 from 20 overs.Islamabad’s openers, Raheel Majeed and Umair Khan, went about the chase steadily. Majeed led the scoring initially without accelerating, and none of the bowlers rotated were able to make an impact. After playing second fiddle to Majeed for seven overs, hardly getting strike, Khan opened up with a four and six to jack up the run rate. The pair raised the fifty stand at a good clip and after ten overs Islamabad were well set on 70.That’s when Mohammad Sami dismissed Majeed for 35 in the same over that he was struck for six, but Mohammad Yousuf’s first-ball four maintained the tone the openers had set. Yousuf’s breezy unbeaten 27 from 22 balls helped finish the affair in the 17th over. Khan hit the winning runs and finished on 40 from 35 balls. Abbottabad have failed to win either of their two games so far.

Surrey’s new era under Rory Hamilton-Brown didn’t all go to plan as Chris Rogers, given a life on 46, dominated the opening day at The Oval with an unbeaten 178

Andrew McGlashan at The Oval09-Apr-2010
ScorecardChris Rogers dominated at The Oval with 178 on the opening day•Getty Images

For all the big-name players you can import it won’t matter a jot if catches are dropped and Surrey’s new era under Rory Hamilton-Brown didn’t all go to plan as Chris Rogers, given a life on 46, dominated the opening day at The Oval with an unbeaten 178. A couple of days before the Championship began, Chris Adams said he’d have a better idea about his new-look team after this game, but what he will already have learned is that his bowling attack is in for some hard toil on home soil.Acquiring quality overseas players who are available for a whole summer is becoming increasingly difficult. However, in Rogers, Derbyshire have someone in the old mould who has formed a second home with his English club. Yet, unless the regulations are changed again, this will be his last season as he won’t qualify for a visa come 2011.The ECB are completely right to try and block the influx of random players from abroad, but precluding the likes of Rogers from doing a sterling job for a small club shows the chink in the system. All Derbyshire can do, for now, is make the most of him while he’s around. For them to mount a promotion push (if that matters come September) he’ll need to score 1500-plus runs. That’s well within his range.He ended last season with 222 against Essex and, although his Sheffield Shield season was a slightly disappointing 641 runs at 49.30 as he missed the final with a broken thumb, he has slotted straight back into top gear. He had to withstand a testing start against the new ball as Andre Nel and Jade Dernbach proved a handful, but was soon notching up the boundaries as he dominated the scoring. He should have gone shortly before lunch, but Stuart Meaker shelled a regulation catch at backward point off Nel – never the best man to deny a wicket to.After the break Rogers raced into the 80s with three consecutive fours off Dernbach – the best being a pristine on drive – and brought up the first Championship hundred of the season from 174 balls. The fact that he is unlikely to add to the one Test cap he earned for Australia against India just goes to highlight the riches of their resources.Play was preceded by a minutes silence for Alec Bedser as both teams and a large number of Surrey staff stood on the outfield looking at the stand that carries his name. He was part of the greatest Surrey side ever in the 1950s, but the team of the last few years has probably been one of the worst to wear the brown cap. This is the second year of Adams’ rebuilding process, but 2009 was basically to remove the dead wood. Now the work really starts.They could have had a wicket in the first over when the two openers argued over a sharp single to cover. Tim Linley had two ends to aim at, opted for Wayne Madsen at the non-striker’s but missed. However Linley, a tall seam bowler, soon made an impression when he struck with his fourth ball to have Madsen caught at first slip. Hamilton-Brown’s first bowling change had worked a treat.No further wickets fell before lunch and Surrey, despite bowling well, didn’t help themselves when Nel spilled Paul Borrington on 7 at third slip. Unlike Rogers with his later reprieve, Borrington couldn’t cash in when he gloved a catch off Gareth Batty who found encouraging bounce. A change of ends brought Batty his second wicket when Garry Park fell sweeping at the offspinner who has joined from Worcestershire.Greg Smith offered Rogers the support he needed, albeit with a few strokes of fortune as he twice inside-edged past his stumps against the pace bowlers. After Rogers moved to his hundred, Smith started to increase his tempo and Surrey were looking short of options when Hamilton-Brown threw the ball to Usman Afzaal.As so often happens a lesser bowler caused a break in concentration and Smith played an awful shot to be caught at mid off, then Dan Redfern followed two overs later when he drove loosely to cover.Nel returned for another spell with the new ball but somehow remained wicketless despite continually beating the outside edge of Rogers, even though he was well beyond 150, and giving his former South Africa team-mate Robin Peterson a working over. On another day he’d have had four wickets. But it’s a long season ahead.

FThe Supreme Court has issued a notice to N Srinivasan, the BCCI secretary, on a petition concerning the latter’s ownership of the Chennai Super Kings IPL franchise and asking whether it constituted a conflict of interest

Cricinfo staff07-May-2010The Supreme Court has issued a notice to N Srinivasan, the BCCI secretary, on a petition concerning the latter’s ownership of the Chennai Super Kings IPL franchise and asking whether it constituted a conflict of interest. The petition has been filed by former BCCI president AC Muthiah.Srinivasan is the managing director of India Cements, the owner of the Chennai franchise. Muthiah has challenged the right of BCCI officials to have stakes in IPL teams, stating that it was a conflict of interest. His petition, filed last month, follows the Madras High Court’s decision to dismiss a similar plea filed by Muthiah. He questioned the authority of Srinivasan convening the IPL governing council meeting on April 26, given his dual role of team owner and board secretary.Under its original rules, the BCCI prohibited its office-bearers from having commercial interests in the league, but this rule was retrospectively amended in September 2008, eight months after the inaugural round of bidding for IPL franchises.The court directive comes a day after it served a show-cause notice on suspended IPL chairman Lalit Modi, based on complaints from the ECB chairman Giles Clarke.Modi reacted to Muthiah’s allegations, saying that it was an issue which needed to be sorted. “This is in court for sometime now. What Muthiah has been alleging is something that needs to be looked into,” Modi told the news channel . “I am just starting to look at my paper work and yes I do think there is an issue here. At first glance there is a problem here and I will look into it seriously.”Things have been done out here for sure and I have to see the paper trail that has been created in this case.”

On an otherwise lacklustre day from England’s bowlers, one man stood out from the crowd – and not merely because he’s the lankiest player on show. Steven Finn’s Test debut came in bewildering circumstances in Chittagong back in March, only days after arri

Andrew Miller at Lord's28-May-2010On an otherwise lacklustre day from England’s bowlers, one man stood out from the crowd – and not merely because he’s the lankiest player on show. Steven Finn’s Test debut came in bewildering circumstances in Chittagong back in March, only days after arriving in Bangladesh as injury cover. But the promise he displayed then was on show once again today, as he returned steady figures of 1 for 39 in 12 overs, in the vastly more familiar surroundings of his home ground, Lord’s.Using his height well on a slow surface, Finn was the closest that England’s attack came to finding a cutting edge on an attritional day, and after Tamim Iqbal was run out for 55, he claimed the only other Bangladeshi wicket to fall, that of Imrul Kayes for 43, who gloved a lifter to Andrew Strauss in the slips.”It was a fantastic feeling to get my first [Test] wicket at Lord’s in front of that crowd, and the atmosphere,” said Finn. “Initially, I wasn’t sure whether he had gloved it or it came off his forearm or what, but I was excited to see it go through like that. It was relatively hard work, because the wicket’s a little bit slow, but there’s a bit of bounce from the Pavilion End, and we hope we can exploit that tomorrow.”After grafting his way through the lifeless decks of Chittagong and Dhaka, Finn was happy to play on a surface offering even a fraction of assistance, and remained upbeat about England’s hopes of forcing the pace against a dogged Bangladeshi line-up.”It wasn’t that bad as Chittagong,” he said. “I’m still having nightmares about that. A little bit more sun on it, and potentially the roller tomorrow, I think it could change. There’s been a bit of variable bounce and that could be a big thing for us and work to our advantage tomorrow.”At the moment it looks like a battle of attrition, us again trying to limit their boundary options and being clever with field-setting and able to attack at the right time. But you can see one going up, one going down. We’re still 300 odd runs ahead, so if we can get a couple of quick wickets that’s going to be in the back of their minds that they could potentially be following on within a session.”The start to the Bangladeshi innings had a recurring theme, with Tamim Iqbal blazing a 62-ball 55 before being run out by a direct hit. It was his fourth half-century in five Test innings against England, but having seen his hurricane style blow out on previous occasions, Finn was confident that the bowlers would be able to regain control as the match develops.”Obviously, Tamim Iqbal is going to come out and play his way. But if we can ‘dot him up’ second innings, when he’s faced two or three on the trot, he’ll play a silly shot – try to slash one that’s too straight through point. We did go for a few runs today but we bowled to our plans and stuck to our guns.”We saw them bat like that in Chittagong and Dhaka earlier in the year,” he added. “They’re a developing team who are getting better game-by-game. They have players who are dangerous, and it’s important we don’t take them lightly, treat them with respect and have to be able to build dots against them.””We’re not just going to be able to blast them away; we have to build pressure, which will in turn get us wickets. The important thing is to use the new ball, because we know the Bangladeshis will struggle against the moving ball.”

Mark Ramprakash struck an unbeaten half-century to guide Surrey to a seven-wicket win over Northamptonshire on the final day of their County Championship Division Two match at Wantage Road

27-May-2010

ScorecardMark Ramprakash struck an unbeaten half-century to guide Surrey to a seven-wicket win over Northamptonshire on the final day of their County Championship Division Two match at Wantage Road. Ramprakash, who also made 70 in the first innings, hit 79 off 143 balls as the visitors won for the first time in 17 Championship matches, their last success coming in this fixture last year.Former South Africa paceman Andre Nel, who blasted 96 on Thursday, had earlier taken four for 68 as Northamptonshire were reduced to 229 all out, giving Surrey a target of 241. Surrey captain Rory Hamilton-Brown then hammered an explosive 45 off 42 balls as they comfortably made that total with 10 overs to spare.The hosts began the day 165 runs ahead of Surrey on 154 for 4, with captain Andrew Hall on eight and his predecessor Nicky Boje on 18. However, Boje only faced four balls without adding to his overnight score before he smashed Tim Linley straight to Matthew Spriegel at backward point.The hosts were then left floundering on 159 for 6 when David Sales, who has been suffering with a migraine during the match, was run out by Chris Schofield at mid-wicket to bag a pair. Hall made it to 32 before he became Nel’s third victim when he edged him to Surrey wicketkeeper Steven Davies.Nel struck again by trapping James Middlebrook lbw for five before Sri Lankan seamer Chaminda Vaas (17) went via the same method off Jade Dernbach. Dernbach, who hit an unbeaten 56, then wrapped up the Northamptonshire tail by bowling Lee Daggett, who made just two.Chasing 241 with 68 overs left, Surrey made a quick start by crashing 37 off the first seven overs before losing Davies for 25, when David Willey took a superb diving catch at mid-wicket off the bowling of Boje.Arun Harinath, who went for a duck in the first innings, threw his wicket away when two short of his half-century by launching Willey to Rob White at mid-wicket. Hamilton-Brown then blasted his exciting knock of 45 before missing an attempted cut off Middlebrook and was stumped by O’Brien.This left the visitors on 156 for 3 at tea and they needed 85 from the final session for the victory. The runs continued to come freely after the break and Ramprakash reached his second fifty of the match off 94 balls. He and former Northamptonshire man Usman Afzaal, with 33 not out, then shared an unbeaten stand of 88 to carry Surrey over the line.

South Africa allrounder Wayne Parnell has been withdrawn from the South Africa A side that will tour Sri Lanka in August as he is yet to recover from a groin injury

Cricinfo staff25-Jun-2010South Africa allrounder Wayne Parnell has been withdrawn from the South Africa A side that will tour Sri Lanka in August as he is yet to recover from a groin injury. Parnell was expected to be fit for the tour but the injury, suffered while warming up for an IPL match in March, is taking longer than expected to heal, and has already caused him to miss the ICC World Twenty20 and South Africa’s tour of the West Indies.According to a statement from Cricket South Africa, Parnell could need surgery to fix the problem, which would keep him out of the Chevrolet Warriors’ Champions’ League campaign as well. His return would then be postponed to South Africa’s tour of Pakistan in late October.Ethy Mbhalati, who missed the A tour of Bangladesh through injury, has also not recovered in time to make the tour.Francois Plaatjies, who was named in the South Africa Emerging Squad to tour Australia, will replace Parnell while Rory Kleinveldt, who was originally selected only for the limited overs matches, has been added to team for the four-day matches.Plaatjies tok 19 wickets in five matches at an average of 22.10 and a strike rate of 35.57 during the SuperSport Series, He also took 16 wickets at an average of 23.25 in the MTN40 tournament.Four-day squad: Thami Tsolekile (capt), Stephen Cook, Dean Elgar, Quinton Friend, Rory Kleinveldt, Heino Kuhn, Vernon Philander, Francois Plaatjies, Rilee Rossouw, Rusty Theron, Thandi Tshabalala, Jonathan Vandiar, Stiaan van Zyl.One-day squad: Thami Tsolekile (capt), Ryan Bailey, Dean Elgar, Colin Ingram, Rory Kleinveldt, David Miller, Vernon Philander, Francois Plaatjies, Rilee Rossouw, Rusty Theron, Thandi Tshabalala, Jonathan Vandiar, Morne van Wyk, Stiaan van Zyl.

Former Essex captain Mark Pettini revealed a more tenacious side to his game in a ding-dong battle at the St Lawrence ground where the visitors edged to within 77 of avoiding the follow-on against Kent

Mark Pennell30-Jul-2010

ScorecardFormer Essex captain Mark Pettini revealed a more tenacious side to his game in a ding-dong battle at the St Lawrence ground where the visitors edged to within 77 of avoiding the follow-on against Kent.Pettini, who abdicated the Essex captaincy in June with his county only three games in to their disappointing start to the Friends Provident t20 campaign, proved the star of Tuesday night’s quarter final win over Lancashire with a swashbuckling 81 of 56 balls that took the Eagles through to finals day with five balls to spare.Barely 72 hours later and crease occupation was the order of the day for Pettini as he carried his bat through to stumps with an unbeaten 80 scored over four-and-a-half hours to thoroughly frustrate Kent’s victory push.Responding to Kent’s workmanlike 420 all out, makeshift Essex opener Pettini lost first-wicket partner Jaik Mickleburgh in the 23rd over when the right-hander fenced at an Amjad Khan lifter and edged a throat- high chance to Darren Stevens at third slip. Three balls later, Tom Westley (0) followed a Simon Cook leg-cutter and edged low to slip where James Tredwell held a sharp chance that made it 50 for 2.Former St Lawrence crowd favourite, the diminutive left-hander Matt Walker, reached only 10 – a little matter of 265 runs short of his ground record score by a Kent player – when he nicked a beauty from Azhar Mahmood that lifted and left to edge through to Geraint Jones.Jones blotted his copybook by missing a stumping chance offered by Pettini with his score on 39 against Tredwell, allowing James Foster and Pettini to combine in a gritty fourth wicket stand worth 73 before Kent enjoyed their next success after tea.With his score on 41 from 81 balls, Foster went back in defence to Azhar Mahmood who rushed one down the Nackington Road slope to peg back the right-hander’s off stump.Wrist spinner Malinga Bandara claimed his first wicket of the game by having Tim Phillips (11) snaffled at short leg from a bat pad chance by Joe Denly, then Ravi Bopara’s miserable game continued when he fell after only four balls.Having missed all but six overs of the opening day with a back strain Bopara came in at No. 7 only to quickly become Amjad Khan’s second victim of the day. Rushed into his defensive push from the crease, Bopara edged through to Jones and marched off with only two to his name leaving Pettini and David Masters to see the visitors through to stumps without further alarm.At the start of day two Kent made heavy weather of reaching 400 for their fifth batting bonus point.
Resuming on 360 for 6, they lost Tredwell (19) to a catch at the wicket and then night watchman Khan for only a single as he played across the line of a David Masters off-cutter.It was left to Bandara and Mahmood to ease Kent to maximum batting points with a ninth-wicket stand of 52 in 15.5 overs to which Mahmood contributed a stylish 28.But once he sliced a drive to mid-off, so last man Simon Cook (8) soon followed. Mesmerised by the wrist spin of Bryce McGain, Cook edged to Foster to start the Essex response half-an-hour before lunch. McGain, on his Essex debut, finished with expensive figures of 5 for 151.

A dozen wickets fell on the opening day at a bright and breezy Lord’s where Leicestershire’s captain Matthew Hoggard revelled on centre stage with a first-class exhibition of good old-fashioned swing bowling

09-Aug-2010

ScorecardMatthew Hoggard picked up 6 for 63 to keep Middlesex to 219 in their first innings•PA Photos

A dozen wickets fell on the opening day at a bright and breezy Lord’s where Leicestershire’s captain and principal bowler Matthew Hoggard revelled on centre stage with a first-class exhibition of good old-fashioned swing bowling. After electing to bat first, Middlesex played an array of poor strokes to be shot out inside two sessions for 219, after which Leicestershire recovered from a sticky start to reach 105 for 2 in the 30 overs through to stumps – a
deficit of 114 going into the second day.Fresh from taking his career wickets tally past 700 against Derbyshire at Grace Road last week, 33-year-old Hoggard excelled to claim three more wickets before lunch. The former Yorkshire and England star switched to the Pavilion End after the interval to complete his season’s best return of 6 for 63 in 20 overs as Middlesex were hurried out by tea.Bowling full and straight, Hoggard made the most of late movement through the air and some profligate batting by a Middlesex top-order who seem to have forgotten the art of allowing seemingly innocuous deliveries to go by. Hoggard’s rout started as early as the fifth over when Scott Newman felt for one outside off stump to be caught behind to make it 14 for 1.Eight runs later and Hoggard bagged two more in as many deliveries as Owais Shah went leg before then, to the next delivery, Dawid Malan hung the bat out to a near wide and steered it to gully where Greg Smith took a tumbling catch.Nadeem Malik also got the ball to swing and enticed John Simpson to follow one and edge to Tom New then Toby Roland-Jones obligingly spooned an in-ducker straight into the hands of the man at square leg.Home skipper Neil Dexter, who was dropped at slip on 42, steadied his ship by contributing 47 to a fifth-wicket stand of 98 with Gareth Berg, which ended when Dexter’s prod against Hoggard was snaffled by Jacques du Toit at slip. Having just posted his 83-ball half-century, Berg (53) played outside the line of a Claude Henderson arm-ball to be pinned lbw, then Shaun Udal’s airy drive ballooned to point to give Hoggard his fifth victim.Josh Davey was caught at third slip leaving 10th-wicket partners Tim Murtagh and Pedro Collins to see the home side past 200 for their sole batting bonus point with an entertaining stand of 58 in 10 overs. They achieved the milestone in no little style, by clubbing 22 in one over from
Malik, but Collins was bowled through the gate by Jigar Naik, leaving Murtagh unbeaten on a breezy 41-ball 50 that included four fours and three sixes.Leicestershire started their reply at 4.15pm and were soon in trouble themselves as Matthew Boyce went leg before to a Collins yorker. Collins then dipped one back in to Du Toit who played late and across his left pad to become another leg before victim.Collins bowled too short thereafter and, having seen off the new ball, Leicestershire fought back with a third-wicket stand between Smith and James Taylor that took them through to the close without further alarm. Smith crafted the most convincing innings of the day to reach 64 while Taylor played second fiddle with an equally composed 32.