County Championship: Northants make solid start at Leicester

Half-centuries from Emilio Gay, George Bartlett and captain Luke Procter enabled Northamptonshire to shade the opening day of their County Championship match against Leicestershire as they finished on 337-6.

Gay’s 88 from 110 balls was the most eye-catching batting performance but Bartlett’s unbeaten 71 and Procter’s 64 were commendable.

Scott Currie and Tom Scriven took two wickets each but on-loan seamer Ben Green was unlucky not to have any success, while England leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed was impressively difficult to score off.

By lunch Northamptonshire had scored 128 for the loss of Ricardo Vasconcelos, who lost his off-stump to an inswinging ball from Scriven.

Gay reached 52 from 61 balls and looked good for a sixth career hundred.

However, he fell on 88 soon after lunch when Currie pushed one through and bowled him off an inside edge.

The visitors suffered another blow when Karun Nair was dismissed for 18, Matt Salisbury finding a thin outside edge to have him caught at first slip by wicketkeeper Ben Cox.

Leicestershire found themselves up against two solid adversaries in Northamptonshire skipper Procter and Bartlett, who had added 66 when tea arrived at 242-3.

With Ahmed growing to his task as a foil and Currie continuing to bend his back at the Bennett End, pressure continued to build on the fourth-wicket pair after tea.

It was Ahmed who eventually split them, bowling Procter with a ball the left-hander shaped to cut.

Bartlett now had James Sales for company, and another 46 runs were chipped out before the new ball brought a second wicket for Scriven, who found the edge with a beauty, Louis Kimber taking a good, low catch at first slip.

Bartlett, meanwhile, had completed his first half-century for his new county from 114 balls, but Northamptonshire lost Saif Zaib before the close, well taken by Cox off Currie.