Rain denies Northants further bonus point

Northamptonshire 567 for 7 dec (Coetzer 219, Hall 103) drew with Leicestershire 238 for 6 dec (Burns 77)
Scorecard

Leicestershire's Division Two game against top-of-the-table Northamptonshire at Grace Road, ended in a draw after rain reduced the final day's play to just 36.1 overs.

In that time Leicestershire advanced from 142 for 3 to 238 for 6, leaving them 329 behind Northamptonshire's mammoth first-innings score of 567 for 7 declared. But poor weather on the final two days denied Northamptonshire the chance of victory, and they had to settle for nine points from the match with Leicestershire collecting five.

Despite two brief stoppages in the morning session, they bowled 30 overs claiming one wicket as Leicestershire added 81 runs. Australian Joe Burns was the man out, pinned lbw by Andrew Hall for 77 off 133 balls with a six and 10 fours.

Michael Thornely joined Matt Boyce in a fifth-wicket stand of 77, twice hitting offspinner James Middlebrook for six - the first a slog-sweep and the next a sweetly timed straight drive.

Leicestershire went into lunch on 223 for 4 but rain delayed the restart for 80 minutes. When play did get underway again Steven Crook struck with two wickets in two balls. Thornley, four runs short of a half- century, edged behind and the next delivery saw Rob Taylor provide wicketkeeper David Murphy with another catch. Jigar Naik prevented the hat-trick by clipping the next ball through midwicket for two runs.

Crook then took the new ball, but bowled only one delivery before another deluge sent the teams off the field for the final time, with the game abandoned as a draw during the tea interval. Boyce finished 40 not out off 127 balls. It was bottom-of-the-table Leicestershire's seventh draw in eight matches.