Claude Henderson puts Northamptonshire in a spin

Northamptonshire 179 for 9 v Leicestershire 395
Scorecard

Claude Henderson ripped through Northamptonshire's batting with a sensational spell of bowling to put Leicestershire into a commanding position at the end of the second day of the opening County Championship game of the season at Grace Road.

The 37-year-old South African left-arm spinner had spectacular figures of 6 for 19 in 18 overs to send Northants plunging to 179 for 9 by the close, still needing another 67 runs to avoid the follow-on. Leicestershire totalled 395 in their first innings with Wayne White hitting a career-best 89 before being last man out on the stroke of lunch.

Northants left-arm seamer David Lucas took four of the home side's last five wickets to finish with 5 for 64. But it was the superb bowling of Henderson that caught the eye and helped put Leicestershire in control of things in the final two sessions of the day.

Northants, despite losing the early wickets of Stephen Peters and Paul Harrison to Andrew Harris, still looked in a healthy position at 96 for 2 shortly before the tea interval. But Leicestershire's new captain Matthew Hoggard then called up Henderson to bowl the final two overs from the pavilion end, and it proved to be an inspired decision.

On a pitch that had initially helped the pacemen, the veteran spinner found some turn and bounce that the Northants batsmen failed to deal with. He claimed the big wicket of David Sales with the third ball of his first over, taking a brilliant low return catch to end the partnership of 83 with Mal Loye.

After tea the wickets continued to tumble as Henderson spun his magic. Hoggard nipped in for the wicket of Rob White who edged a catch down the leg-side before Henderson produced a spell of three wickets for two runs in 24 balls. Loye fell to a superb catch by James Taylor at short-leg, Vishal Tripathi was trapped lbw and Nicky Boje caught off a leading edge at cover.

It was eye-catching stuff from the South African and he ended the day by having Lucas lbw and then Jack Brooks caught by Taylor again at short-leg. One more wicket will bring Henderson a career-best return, beating his previous best of 7 for 51.

Earlier in the day Leicestershire added 92 runs for their last five wickets with Tom New making 82 before becoming the first of Lucas' four victims. Leicestershire collected three batting bonus points and Northants two bowling points.