Essex go top with victory over Leicestershire

Rothesay County Championship, Division One, Uptonsteel Grace Road, Leicester (day four)

Essex 401 & 217-4: Walter 110; B Green 1-42

Leicestershire 187 & 428 (f/o): Hill 127, Patel 58; Snater 3-69, Harmer 3-124

Essex (23 pts) beat Leicestershire (3 pts) by six wickets

Match scorecard

Essex moved top of the County Championship Division One table at the halfway stage of the season with a six-wicket victory over Leicestershire at Uptonsteel Grace Road despite the best efforts of Lewis Hill to deny them.

Chasing 215 from a minimum of 59 overs, Tom Westley's side eased home with 13.1 overs in hand thanks largely to Paul Walter's 110, a second Essex century of the match after Jordan Cox's first-innings double.

A haul of 23 points took them one ahead of overnight leaders Sussex before waiting for the result from Scarborough, where only an unlikely win for Warwickshire could deny them top spot.

Yet they would have been celebrating a third consecutive win much sooner but for a marathon vigil of defiance by Leicestershire stalwart Hill, who batted for seven hours and 10 minutes and faced 320 balls before he was last man out for 127 as Leicestershire, following on, totalled 428 in their second innings.

Shane Snater and Simon Harmer took three wickets each but Hill's refusal to surrender his wicket ate up the whole of an extended final morning, leaving Essex, who had at one point looked like winning comfortably inside three days, with at least some work to do.

Yet it was small consolation for the home side, who have lost their past four matches.

Essex had begun the day hoping to make short work of the three Leicestershire wickets still standing overnight.

They removed the first obstacle after Harmer's off-spin was introduced, Tom Scriven falling leg before on the sweep.

But 35-year-old Hill, who had resumed on 64 after prolonged support from Ben Cox and Ben Green on day three, found another adhesive partner in Josh Davey.

Davey's 68 minutes at the crease tested Essex's patience further. He seemed even to be taunting them as he launched Harmer over long-on for six and brought up Leicestershire's 400 by reverse-sweeping him for four.

Moments earlier, Hill cut Charlie Bennett for four and then dived home for a second run off a similar shot to complete his hundred, rising to celebrate vigorously.

It was his first century since last July, the 10th of his first-class career and by some distance his slowest, coming off 275 balls.

Davey was caught behind off a thin under-edge as he tried to punch away Matt Critchley's leg-spin.

It left Leicestershire nine down but their number 11, 19-year-old rookie seamer Alex Green, survived 22 balls, allowing Hill to eke out 23 more runs.

Between, they used up virtually the whole of the half-hour added to the morning session after the fall of the ninth wicket.

There were just two deliveries remaining before lunch when Hill, having lofted Critchley over mid-on for his 12th four, wearily attempted another and missed.

It had been an extraordinary, characterful effort, if rather more obdurate than elegant.

Hill has struggled for runs in general this season and, had Leicestershire not been so badly hit by injuries and absences, would likely not have played in this match.

Instead, he enjoyed probably one of his finest moments, readily acknowledged by the Essex players, who were gracious enough to congratulate him, virtually to a man.

Needing to score at 3.64 per over, Essex soon lost Dean Elgar, caught at first slip as Davey squared him up.

Westley fell to a terrific catch at backward point but 116 more from 35 overs in the final session looked well within their compass.

Charlie Allison, who caught the eye with five fours, was bowled by Ben Green for 36 but new batter Critchley hastened the conclusion by hammering a six off Rehan Ahmed.

Walter completed his second hundred of the summer from 125 balls.

He could not see the job through as Hill topped off his day with a fine catch in the deep, leaving Michael Pepper - substitute for the England-bound Jordan Cox - to hit the winning boundary square on the offside.

Report by ECB Reporters' Network, supported by Rothesay.

Leicestershire head coach Alfonso Thomas:

"We thought in the conditions it was the right thing to bowl on day one and we got a couple of early wickets, but then you run into a certain Jordan Cox.

"Whoever said going to the IPL and sitting on your bottom isn't going to help you? He's come back and he looked okay to me. He was just different class.

"You have to give credit to Essex, they played well, they outbatted us and outbowled us. Just the way their senior bowling group operated was awesome to see. They were just relentless.

"I've just said to Lewie Hill, that's as good a hundred as I've seen. The only way it would be better is to have ended up on the winning side. "

Essex captain Tom Westley:

"It doesn't matter who you play against, any team is capable of really digging in and making it challenging.

"Sometimes you have to get to the last session on day four in order to secure a win. But it's a real positive result for us to go to the top of the table.

"We haven't played our best cricket at times this season but we can't do much more being top of the table halfway through the Championship.

"The most pleasing thing for me about the win here is that we've had to dig incredibly deep with numerous injuries leading into this game. Obviously, we've lost Jordan Cox during the game because of his call-up."

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