LEICESTER (first day of four; Somerset won toss): Somerset, with seven first-innings wickets in hand, are 80 runs behind Leicestershire
SOMERSET’S bid to avoid a first wooden spoon in 15 years was boosted by that rarity at Grace Road, a pitch with real bounce for bowlers at the Bennett End. Having happily stuck them in, Andrew Caddick whipped out Leicestershire for 170, returning five for 46.
After two wickets in his first 15 balls, Caddick switched ends to take his analysis to four for 14 by the twentieth over, gaining steep lift and sharp movement off the seam. Only a master class of defence from Hylton Ackerman, who left anything he could and played rearing balls with one hand off the bat, revived his side from 58 for six.
Ackerman’s fifteenth fifty in 23 innings was supported by David Masters, whose unflustered 43 from 93 balls included a seven when Matt Wood’s throw from the boundary eluded the wicketkeeper and sped across the rope at the far end. But Wood batted with vigilant control in the reply, watching two equally young partners fall in Nick Walker’s opening spell and James Hildreth succumb to Walker’s bounce off the final ball of the day.