Mohammad Abbas took 6-48, his best return for Leicestershire, as the bowlers continued to hold the upper hand in a Specsavers County Championship match against promotion rivals Kent that ended the second day very much in the balance at the Fischer County Ground, Grace Road.
The Pakistan international seamer, who was named Man of the Series after his country’s two Tests against England earlier this summer, took full advantage of the heavy cloud and used pitch to move the ball both in the air and off the seam, with only Joe Denly standing firm as visitors were bowled out for just 195 in their first innings.
Kent struck back strongly however, with Ivan Thomas taking 4-50 as the Foxes ended the day on 126-5, a lead of 151 with five second innings wickets in hand.
Resuming with Kent on 53-3, Denly and Sam Billings were made to work hard for their runs as the ball continued to swing and nip off the pitch. Abbas had beaten Billings on numerous occasions before he found the edge of the Kent captain’s bat and Ned Eckersley held a outstanding low catch diving to his right behind the stumps.
Zak Crawley went the same way, feathering a thin edge off Abbas to give Eckersley a more comfortable catch and reduce the visitors to 100-5, but Denly was joined by debutant Ollie Robinson in building a substantial partnership for the sixth wicket, helped by frontline seamers Abbas and Ben Raine coming to the end of their spells.
Denly broke the shackles by hitting four boundaries in one over from Gavin Griffiths, bringing up his half-century with a fine straight drive to the rope off the same bowler, but Raine returned to the attack to pick up three quick wickets before lunch.
Robinson, on the back foot, edged an outswinger to Eckersley, and in the same over Darren Stevens glanced down the leg-side only for Eckersley to pull off another brilliant catch flinging himself to his left. In the over before the break Denly, having battled his way to 62, missed a full in-swinger from Raine and was plumb leg before wicket.
Abbas returned after the break to bowl Harry Podmore off the inside edge before Grant Stewart was caught at cover driving.
Kent picked up an early wicket of their own when Horton was leg before to a Stewart in-swinger, but Dearden in particular was batting positively, and he and Colin Ackermann added 69 for Leicestershire’s second wicket before Ackermann went leg before to a Thomas delivery that seamed back in.
Mark Cosgrove, going through a bad patch by his high standards, nicked off to Thomas without scoring, and though Dearden passed 50, he lost two further partners, both to Thomas, as Ateeq Javid was caught down the legside by Billings and Eckersley fell leg before before rain and bad light saw play close 13 overs early.
Leicestershire batsman Harry Dearden:
“It’s been a really good game of cricket, ebbing and flowing in favour of one team or the other, but if we can get in tomorrow morning, get some runs and put them under pressure, it’ll be just in our favour.
“Mohammad Abbas is just awesome, it’s such a good feeling if you’re out there fielding, he keeps running in and bowling magic balls. He had a bit of a stomach upset when he came in, but you can never fault him for effort, he just comes running in and taking wickets.
“Ben Raine bowled so well too, taking three wickets just before lunch, that’s what he does, breaks games open.
“You have to be positive as a batsman on a wicket like that, play as straight as you can. You’re going to play and miss every now and then, you just have to be disciplined. If we can get a score of 250 plus, that would really put them under pressure batting last.”
Kent batsman Joe Denly:
“It was tough out there for batsmen, you just had to find a way. Mine were ugly runs, but it was case of staying out there as long as possible and getting what you could on a wicket offering the seamers movement and inconsistent bounce.
“Ollie Robinson was great on debut, on a wicket not ideal for a batsman, and it was a vital little partnership we had. It was frustrating for me to get on when I did, just before lunch.
“The game is very much in the balance though. Ivan Thomas was great, he was aggressive, he put their batters under pressure, and that’s the attitude we have to have tomorrow – go out and get those last five wickets for as few runs as possible and then have a clear plan as batters to chase down whatever they set us.”