Hoggard and Malik put Leicestershire in control

Leicestershire 117 for 1 v Derbyshire 182
Scorecard

Matthew Hoggard and Nadeem Malik claimed four wickets apiece to put Leicestershire in command on the first day of their County Championship Division Two match against bottom of the table Derbyshire at Grace Road.

The two seamers had Derbyshire reeling at 68 for 8 at lunch and it needed a battling innings of 85 from Dan Redfern to spearhead a recovery that steered the visitors to a total of 182. By the close, Leicestershire had regained the momentum reaching 117 for 1 with opener Matt Boyce still there on 51 having shared half-century partnerships with Greg Smith and Jacques du Toit.

Derbyshire's decision to bat first after winning the toss backfired on them in a remarkable morning session. The ball swung and seamed and half the side were out inside 17 overs with only 37 runs on the board. Wayne Madsen, the only player to reach double figures in the 29 overs before lunch, was dropped on 4 off the bowling of Nathan Buck to prevent Derbyshire's position being even worse.

Hoggard, who bowled 15 overs unchanged, and Malik exploited the helpful conditions superbly. Skipper Hoggard took the first three wickets in his opening seven overs. Chris Rogers was trapped lbw, Madsen chased an away swinger and was caught behind for 14 and Garry Park edged low to second slip.

When Malik replaced Buck at the Pavilion End he immediately had Greg Smith lbw with the fourth ball of his first over before Hoggard picked up his fourth wicket at his next visit. Chesney Hughes was also adjudged lbw offering no shot.

Malik plunged Derbyshire deeper into trouble by picking up three more wickets in his last three overs before lunch. Robin Peterson, Lee Goddard and Steffan Jones all fell to driven edges leaving Malik with eye-catching figures of four for seven in seven overs while Hoggard had 4 for 43.

It was a different story after lunch as Redfern led the fight back and Derbyshire's last two wickets added 115 runs in 29 overs. Redfern and Tim Groenewald shared the bulk of that with a ninth-wicket stand of 89. Redfern reached 50 off 83 balls to post his best score of the season, the innings containing six fours and a six off Malik that flew high over wicketkeeper Tom New's head.

Groenewald was finally bowled by Buck and Redfern's excellent innings came to an end when he was caught at mid-wicket off Claude Henderson having made 85 off 121 balls.

Boyce and Smith shared a half-century opening stand when Leicestershire replied before Smith was bowled by his namesake, Derbyshire's Greg Smith, for 21. Boyce reached 50 with nine boundaries and was still there at the close alongside du Toit, the second-wicket pair having added another 63 runs to put the home side in a strong position.