Leicestershire v Nottinghamshire
(County Championship - Days 1 & 2)
1-2 May 2026
Day One
This was Leicestershire's fourth County Championship match of the 2026 season; their first spell in the top flight since 2003. Now, I freely acknowledge I am still a novice on the vagaries of this sport, but what I have gleaned is that it is generally felt that a bone dry pitch under a cloudless sky represent the optimal conditions for batting.
And yet, after winning the toss, Leicestershire chose to send visitors Nottinghamshire (current County Champions, I should add) out to bat this morning, with the sun (cliche alert) splitting the trees.
And, after taking five or six overs to get their eye in, the Notts' Lads swiftly set about making hay whilst the sun shone. We were 23 overs in before The Foxes finally managed to unearth their first wicket, and 52 overs had passed before Ajaz Patel succeeded in claiming a second. The visitors sat at 228/2 at this point, with Ben Slater well ensconced at the crease, and on his way to a whopping 178, before falling.
I do appreciate there are a clutch of quality batsmen in this Notts' side, but on Day One today the limitations of Leicestershire's attack were clearly laid bare, with only Ben Green emerging from the fray with any credit.
The former Somerset man ended up with figures of 3/88, as the visitors closed Day One on 405/4.
96 runs of this total had come from boundaries hit by Slater alone.
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| Are these perfect batting conditions... |
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| ...or perfect bowling ones? What do you think? |
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| They are, undoubtedly, perfect cake conditions. Another Shout Out to the Friends of Grace Road here. |
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| Passions still run deep in Nottinghamshire. Good on you, Sir. |
Day Two
A slightly bizarre Day Two to this match, with a total of 14 wickets falling - in stark contrast to the meagre 4 during the sun-baked Day One.
Ben Green picked up where he left off the previous evening, promptly removing Olly Stone and Kyle Verreynne before lunch, then Liam Patterson-White and Brett Hutton after it. Green ended the innings with the pretty impressive, career-best figures of 7/112.
Notts, for their part, negotiated a mid-innings wobble to post a more than handy total of 490, by the time they were all out.
The Foxes began their response reasonably well, and were sitting at 48 without loss at one point. But after openers Rishi Patel and Jake Weatherald were dismissed, the home batters struggled to cope with Olly Stone's pace bowling, and Leics slumped to 146/8.
I had thought we would probably be seeing Leicestershire batting again today but, fortunately, Stephen Eskinazi and Ajaz Patel had other ideas. And the pair ground out a fine partnership, to haul their side to 220/8 - still 270 runs behind.
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| We had a little security scare first thing this morning, as somebody had left an electronic insulin patch on one of the seats - and the thing was frantically alarming (and alarming the stewards). |
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| Notts' Lyndon James |
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| Ben Green celebrates his 7/112 |
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| End of Day Two |
Update - Leics were all out in their first innings for 308, with Stephen Eskinazi managing a century.
Notts enforced the follow on and, like the first innings, the home side failed to build on a promising start collapsing from 99/0 to 131/6. They closed Day Three on 215/7 - a lead of just 33 runs.
Day Four - Nottinghamshire win by 10 wickets.
