Lancashire enjoy better of rain-affected third day

Kyle Jarvis claimed 5-69 but rain dominated Lancashire's LV= County Championship encounter with Leicestershire at Grace Road, with just 24 overs possible on the third day.

Leicestershire were eventually bowled out for 249, losing their final four wickets for 46 runs, including the dismissal of captain Mark Cosgrove who fell for a well-made 79, before heavy rain caused play to be delayed for nearly four hours.

Zimbabwean Jarvis took his season tally to 28 wickets to maintain his status as the second division's leading wicket-taker, before Lancashire enhanced their first-innings lead of 119 runs in the 11 overs left in the day - when play eventually resumed - closing on 39/2.

Play didn't start until 12.15 after the aforementioned rain forced a delayed start, but Lancashire made good progress once they had the opportunity to have a go at the Leicestershire batsmen. Cosgrove was Leicestershire's greatest hope for achieving a respectable first-innings total, resuming on 65 not out with Tom Wells.

Cosgrove found his stride early on and played a vitally important role in helping the home side to reach their first batting point, as he continued what has been an impressive first season as skipper at Grace Road.

Wells enjoyed a good spell with the ball, claiming career-best figures in Lancashire's first innings, but he was out for just seven when he became Jarvis's third victim of the innings, as he was trapped lbw with the score at 203/7.

Captain Mark Cosgrove made a vital 79 to help Leicestershire post 249.

This was the fast bowler's sixth ball of the day and he continued to play a prominent role as finished the day with his second five-wicket-haul of the season. The Australian duo of Cosgrove and Mckay represented a strong eighth-wicket pairing for the hosts and the latter played in a particularly positive manner as the hosts edged towards a second batting point.

Mckay hit 26 in 37 deliveries to relieve some of the pressure from his captain, scoring four boundaries in a fortuitous innings as the pitch continued to offer plenty for the seam bowlers. The home side still had three wickets in hand with the 250-mark approaching, but one of the ominous clouds around Grace Road decided to halt Leicestershire's progress, with this band of rain signalling an early lunch.

Lancashire enjoyed a purple patch in their Natwest T20 Blast encounter against Leicestershire after a lengthy rain break and this pattern continued as the visitors claimed the final three wickets for just four runs when the players returned.

Nathan Buck (3-64) continued his promising display against his former county, striking with the fourth ball after the lunch interval to claim the prized wicket of Cosgrove with a delivery that kept low and wrapped the Leicestershire captain on the pads to give Buck his third wicket of the innings.

Three balls later Leicestershire lost their second wicket with 245 runs on the board, as Jarvis encouraged a thin edge through to Alex Davies to remove Mckay, with the rain closing in once more.

Rob Taylor and Charlie Shreck were both unbeaten on two when the rain hit, with the hosts one run shy of a second batting point and their partnership ended the very first ball after a delay of nearly four hours.

The ground staff were put to task by persistent rain on Day Three at Grace Road.

It turned out to be one of those days when the rain teased an impressive team of ground staff. Every time an inspection or start time was given the weather thwarted their attempts to resume and a truncated third day may well have done enough to force a contrived result tomorrow.

When play eventually got back underway, the loss of Shreck to the very first ball lead to the humorous scene of the players leaving the field after just one ball, after they had spent most of the day sat in the dressing room.  

Needing just one run to reach 250, Shreck was trapped lbw to Jarvis for two and this gave Lancashire just 11 overs to try to improve a respectable lead of 119 runs. The pitch had been doing plenty despite the large amount of rain that had fallen and it hadn't been easy for the Leicester tail-end to bat on a wicket that looks set to remain green throughout the game.

However, the pitch was in no way to blame for the loss of Paul Horton's wicket, but the Lancashire opener may have been looking at Karl Brown, who left him stranded in the middle of the wicket, sending Horton back after his opening partner had slipped at the other end. 

The dark clouds eventually drifted away from the ground with 14 overs left in the day.

The end result of this miscommunication was that Horton - who made an impressive half-century in the first innings - was run out for seven and Brown (8) soon followed when he edged Shreck behind, with Lancashire losing both of their openers with the score at 22/2. 

The South-African duo of Alviro Petersen (15*) and Ashwell Prince (5*) came together to endure an unsettling spell of bowling and when the the former was dropped at third slip by Taylor off Ben Raine, Lancashire could have been facing the loss of their third top-order batsman to the final ball of the day.

Raine's run of bad luck continued long before that dropped catch - the Leicestershire all-rounder had been off the field with a minor injury to his right hand moments earlier - but another dropped catch off his bowling lead to a wry smile of disbelief, as the players left the field with the score at 39/2 and Lancashire leading by 150 runs.