Foxes Under Pressure After Hampshire's Strong Reply

Opener Nick Gubbins posted his first Rothesay County Championship hundred since April last year as Hampshire laid the foundations of a potentially winning lead in the battle of the bottom two in Division One at Uptonsteel Grace Road.

The 32-year-old left-hander is unbeaten on 124 as Hampshire closed the second day on 255 for three for a lead of 225 over Leicestershire, who had earlier been bowled out for 244 in their first innings.

A prohibitive 32 points from safety going into the penultimate round, Hampshire remain highly likely to drop into Division Two for the first time since 2014 but 19 points for winning here would at least keep their survival hopes mathematically alive until the last week of the season.

Defeat would be a body blow for next-to-bottom Leicestershire, for whom Hamza Shaikh and injury substitute Tom Scriven had made half-centuries in scratching out a 30-run first-innings advantage after Kyle Abbott’s four for 58.

Irrespective of any points deduction over the pitch for last month’s win over Glamorgan, it would leave last year’s Division Two champions needing to defeat title contenders Warwickshire at Edgbaston in their last game to have any chance of staying up.



Earlier in the day, Leicestershire had recovered from 148 for seven overnight, their last three first-innings wickets adding 96 more runs, which translated into a 30-run lead at the halfway stage.

Shaikh, on 50 overnight, carried the air of a batter who had missed an opportunity after he was dismissed by Manny Lumsden for 63, almost guiding the ball into the hands of second slip off the face of the bat, which presumably was not his intention.

He and Scriven, though, added 48 for the eighth wicket, with Scriven and Ajaz Patel (17 off 23 balls) combining to put on another 41 for the ninth, potentially vital runs in a low-scoring match. Scriven collected seven fours, his third half-century of the season and a second in consecutive innings coming off 70 deliveries.

Leicestershire now sought to frank their advantage with a repeat of the opening day’s clatter of wickets, yet as Hampshire’s openers successfully saw off the new ball it became clear that the generous help granted by the pitch on day one was no longer there.

Given how closely its behaviour was being scrutinised, Leicestershire might have had cause for relief at this, even if it was not exactly serving their immediate ambitions.

Ian Holland, who took four wickets in his first seven overs on the way to a career-best six for 38 on day one, was into the second over of his second spell before he made his first breakthrough this time, beating Felix Organ’s defensive bat for a leg before.

It ended a first-wicket partnership of 104 between Organ and Nick Gubbins that represented rare prosperity for Hampshire, whose supporters had not seen two openers put on a hundred stand since July last year.

Gubbins moved to fifty from 85 balls when he cut Holland for his seventh boundary as Hampshire went to tea on 142 for one.

With spin coming into play, Hampshire lost their second wicket 11 overs into the evening session as Toby Albert was bowled by a ball from left-armer Ajaz Patel that skidded on to his off stump.

Patel was close to bowling Gubbins with one that turned sharply out of the rough outside the left-hander’s off stump, but the former Middlesex man responded with back-to-back onside boundaries to go to his century from 190 balls with 13 fours - his first since being asked to open for Hampshire.

Hampshire lost Jake Lehmann in the penultimate over of the day as he feathered a catch behind off Patel but will enter day three firmly in control.