Atherton ends Habib/DeFreitas partnership

The partnership of 113 between Habib and DeFreitas was finally broken by a brilliant piece of fielding from Michael Atherton. Having dropped two catches in the slips earlier on in the day, he was determined not to drop a third.

Habib when on 93 hit a ball high into the sky over into the midwicket region which looked to be along way over Atherton. He turned, sprinted 20-30 yards and with arms fully out stretched held on to a great catch.

This wicket was badly needed by Lancashire as they did not seem to have any answer for the Leicestershire batsmen. Leicestershire scored at an healthy rate throughout the day and there were some good partnerships put together.

Defreitas, against his old county, played aggressively right from the start and his 50 came off 67 balls with 8 boundaries.

John Crawley tried to prevent the flow of runs by switching his bowlers around regularly and at one stage even brought Neil Fairbrother into the attack, hoping that the lack of pace on the ball would make it harder for the batsman to score on a very slow wicket.

Towards the end of the days play there was evidence that the wicket was taking spin, and Leicestershire, with Anil Kumble in their side must feel quitely confident.