Chapple bags five wickets as Leicestershire fold

Glen Chapple claimed his second five-wicket haul of the season to put Lancashire in a healthy position by the end of the first day of their CricInfo Championship clash against Leicestershire at Grace Road.

Chapple, wayward in his first spell before lunch, returned to take four of the last five wickets at a personal cost of ten runs in 7.3 overs, to finish with five for 40 as Leicestershire were bowled out for 240.

It was a disappointing score for the home side, considering they had been 95 for one in the 29th over after an opening partnership of 70 between Vince Wells and Darren Maddy.

But when Maddy was second out for 44 lbw to Mike Smethurst, it triggered a collapse which saw three wickets fall for one run in four overs. Muttiah Muralitharan took two of them in successive overs.

Then a sixth-wicket stand of 68 in 12 overs between Australian Daniel Marsh and talented young batsman Darren Stevens restored some order to the Leicestershire innings.

Marsh was in tremendous form, hitting 11 fours in his knock of 71 which came off 96 balls. It followed the 61 he made in the second innings against Essex in the opening Championship game and suggests he is going to be a valuable acquisition to the Leicestershire squad.

It was Chapple, however, who made the most telling contribution to the day's play by removing Stevens, Jon Dakin, Matt Whiley and Devon Malcolm in a hostile and accurate spell which once again exposed the inconsistencies in Leicestershire's batting.

It is the second time Chapple has taken five wickets this season. He claimed six for 46 in Lancashire's win at Somerset.

Leicestershire lost their last five wickets for 26 runs in 14 overs to fall well short of the sort of total they would have been looking for after the start they were given.

By the close, despite two interruptions for bad light, Lancashire had also enjoyed a solid start reaching 45 without loss, 195 runs behind.