Win over leaders would be ideal promotion boost
0 Comments | Leicester Mercury, Jul 28, 2010 | by PAUL JONES
Leicestershire head into a pivotal stage of their Championship season with the start of back-to-back home matches tomorrow.
Division Two leaders Sussex are the visitors to Grace Road, with Derbyshire providing the opposition beginning next Tuesday.
Improving on last year’s lastplace finish was the very least County supporters were looking for this term.
So far, under new skipper Matthew Hoggard, they have looked more than capable of achieving that.
As they sit firmly in midtable, County have already posted four Championship wins compared to the two they managed last term.
In terms of points, they are considerably better off than they were after 10 matches in 2009.
At that stage last year Leicestershire had only 83 points in the bag, compared to the 118 they have picked up so far (they would currently have 120 under last year’s scoring system which awarded four points for a draw as opposed to three this summer).
It gives County a solid base from which to push forward, and events over the next 10 days or so could point to how far they might go.
Championship form of late has been sound with wins at Surrey and Worcestershire backed up by a hard-fought draw against Glamorgan at Swansea last week.
Paul Nixon’s unbeaten halfcentury in the second innings piloted County to security at St Helens and the Leicestershire veteran will be aiming to push his own run tally closer to the 1,000-run mark over the final half-dozen matches of the summer.
Sussex will provide stern opposition, particularly as they inflicted a heavy defeat on Leicestershire in April.
Many were surprised to see them relegated last year but they look in good shape to make an immediate return to Division One.
They have suffered just a couple of defeats so far this season and that is despite being without Michael Yardy and former Leicestershire allrounder Luke Wright for considerable stretches because of their England commitments.
Sussex wicket-keeper Matt Prior will also be missing tomorrow as he lines up for England in the first Test against Pakistan at Trent Bridge.
Leicestershire’s immediate task is to stall Sussex’s drive for promotion. If they can achieve that, it would set them up nicely for the visit of Derbyshire, who County convincingly defeated at Derby in the early exchanges of the season with Wayne White making his maiden first-class century.
LV Championship Division Two Sussex …………10 5 3 2 28 29 146 Glamorgan …..10 5 2 3 23 26 135 Gloucs …………10 5 1 4 20 29 130 Northants …….10 5 1 4 22 21 126 Leics ………….10 4 2 4 20 28118 Surrey ………….10 3 3 4 30 23 110 Worcs…………… 9 3 3 2 22 23 102 Derbys …………10 2 3 5 24 27 92 Middlesex …… 11 2 3 6 25 26 92