Leicestershire v Nottinghamshire
1-4 May 2026
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 Nottingham (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. |
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