Duo bat Leics into pole position

Batsmen HD Ackerman and Boeta Dippenaar piled the pressure on Essex

HD Ackerman and Boeta Dippenaar put Leicestershire in control of their LV County Championship Division Two duel against Essex at Chelmsford.

The South African pair shared in a third-wicket stand of 145 before Dippenaar was removed by Ravi Bopara just before the close which arrived with the visitors 233 for three in their second innings.

It leaves Leicestershire going into the third day with an advantage of 228 and with the prospect of leaving their rivals a testing challenge in the fourth innings.

The contrast of the first two days could hardly be more different. On the opening day 18 wickets fell while on the second only five were taken.

Even allowing for the increasingly friendly nature of the pitch, the biggest reason for the change was that batsmen showed greater application and discipline.

So much so that it came as something of a surprise when Ackerman and Dippenaar were separated - no doubt much to the relief of Essex.

Bopara was the man who broke the partnership when he had Dippenaar caught down the leg side by wicketkeeper James Foster.

He made 64, containing seven fours, in a partnership spanning 43 overs but Ackerman lived to fight another day and is in sight of his third championship century of the season.

Leicestershire were given a sound start by Tom New and Matthew Boyce with a stand of 63 before both were dismissed by the medium-paced Ryan ten Doeschate.

New was first to go, thanks to a magnificent diving catch in the slips by Jason Gallian, while Boyce, having made exactly half of the 82 on the board, fell victim to a more comfortable catch at slip by Tom Westley.

But once again Pakistan leg-spinner Danish Kaneria was left a frustrated figure.
Seldom did he produce a delivery that posed a problem and he has so far toiled away for 22 overs without reward while conceding 60 runs.

Earlier, Essex advanced from 134 for eight to 164 to earn a slender first-innings lead of five.

James Middlebrook was four short of his half-century when his defences were breached by Garnett Kruger while Nadeem Malik brought the innings to a close by having Kaneria caught from a loose drive.

This enabled Malik to become the second bowler in the match to return career-best figures.

He finished with 6-46 from 19.3 overs. On the first day, David Masters claimed 6-24 in Leicestershire's first innings.