Uneven bounce makes Leicestershire favourites for rare hat-trick

Middlesex 233 and 82 for 3 need 299 more runs to beat Leicestershire 427 and 186
Scorecard

Leicestershire are strong favourites to win three consecutive championship matches for the first time in 20 years after setting Middlesex a fourth innings target of 381 to win their match at the Fischer County Ground, Grace Road.

Increasingly variable bounce on the previously used pitch, evident throughout the Leicestershire second innings, makes it an even tougher prospect for the 2016 county champions.

It was also a huge factor in the fall of the second last wicket of an absorbing day's cricket, when Middlesex opener Sam Robson, having batted impressively in going to 31, received a delivery from Gavin Griffiths that both seamed back in and stayed horribly low to pin him leg before wicket.

The dismissal broke a partnership of 51 between Robson and Steve Eskinazi, who came together after just three balls of the innings, when Max Holden had edged a Ben Raine delivery which both lifted and left him outside off-stump.

Had Eskinazi and skipper Dawid Malan been together at the close, there would still have been real hope for the visitors, but with eight balls remaining in the day, Malan pressed forward to Raine and edged to wicketkeeper Hill to leave his team still needing 299 runs with just seven wickets in hand.

The tone of a day which saw Middlesex show real spirit after conceding a huge first innings lead of 194 was set by Middlesex seamers Tim Murtagh and James Harris. Murtagh, having taken 5 for 52 in Leicestershire's first innings, conceded just 14 runs in bowling 13 consecutive overs from the Bennett End, and with Harris almost equally parsimonious from the Pavilion End, Leicestershire opener Harry Dearden faced 71 balls in scoring just six runs before edging Murtagh to the wicketkeeper.

By then Harris had bowled Colin Ackermann, scorer of 196 not out in the first innings for just 3, and when a disbelieving Mark Cosgrove went leg before to the occasional offspin of Holden, Leicestershire were struggling, the more so when Harris bowled Hill with a delivery which seamed back in.

A stand of 50 between Raine and Neil Dexter gave Leicestershire's innings a modicum of impetus, but Dexter will want to quickly forget his dismissal, wandering out of his crease after bottom edging a Murtagh delivery along the ground to wicketkeeper Simpson. The alert Simpson rolled the ball back on to the stumps, and Dexter, not attempting a single, had indeed been stumped.

Leicestershire's tail, as has regularly been the case this season, made useful contributions to drag the score up to 186, with Murtagh finishing with 3 for 27, and overall match figures of 8 for 79.