Gloucestershire near overdue win

Hamish Marshall helped restore the feelgood factor to Gloucestershire as the home side took charge against Leicestershire on the third day of the LV County Championship Division Two match at Cheltenham.

Having bowled the visitors out for 228 to establish a first-innings lead of 87, Gloucestershire stamped their authority thanks to half-centuries from former New Zealand Test opener Marshall and Ireland left-hander Will Porterfield.

They reached the close on 265 for three and, weather permitting, will tomorrow chase their first win in four-day cricket since they beat the same opponents at Grace Road on September 1 last year.

Gloucestershire are already 352 to the good and within sight of a declaration.

If they do go on to achieve their first championship success of the season, the home side will be indebted to Marshall and Porterfield, whose second-wicket stand of 131, staged in 42 overs, effectively batted Leicestershire out of contention.

Porterfield adopted a safety-first approach in accumulating 66 runs from 199 balls in only his second innings since captaining Ireland to World Cup qualification in Holland earlier this week.

Marshall proved altogether more enterprising, smashing 11 fours in all to bring a festival crowd of close to 3,000 to life.

Characterised by fluent drives and powerful cuts, his innings of 83 spanned just 119 balls and raised the prospect of an early declaration.

But Gloucestershire's progress was checked when Porterfield and Marshall departed in the space of two Nadeem Malik overs, both caught at the wicket attempting to drive.

Hamish Marshall scored 83 as Gloucs looked to set Leics a challenging target today

Porterfield was perhaps unfortunate, the ball appearing not quite to carry to former England wicketkeeper Paul Nixon.

Thereafter, Marcus North and Chris Taylor were charged with the task of rebuilding the innings, and those two added 98 in fading light for the fourth wicket to steady the ship and keep their side in the box seat.

Taylor claimed 50 from 62 balls and struck five fours, while North required 13 balls fewer to reach the same landmark.

The Western Australian accrued four fours and a six and has now passed 50 in his last four championship innings at the College Ground.

Given that rain was forecast for later in the match, Gloucestershire were eager to wrap-up Leicestershire's first innings as quickly as possible when play resumed this morning.

Instead, they were frustrated by Malik and Johan Malcolm-Hansen, who added 44 for the last wicket.

Gloucestershire opened up with their seamers, but it required a change of bowling to terminate the stand, slow left armer Vikram Banerjee replacing Jon Lewis at the College Lawn End.

Malik had stood firm for 62 deliveries when he was finally lured on to the front foot and snared lbw.

Malcolm-Hansen finished unbeaten on 20 from 65 balls.

Required to try to bat in one-day mode and set Leicestershire a target if they were to give themselves time in which to force a win, the home side found the going frustratingly slow during a morning which spawned a mere 58 runs.

Tied down by new-ball bowlers Malik and Dillon du Preez, openers Porterfield and Kadeer Ali struggled initially in conditions conducive to swing.

Kadeer departed two overs before lunch, failing to remove his bat in time and offering a catch behind off Tom Smith.

Thereafter, Marshall and Porterfield set an altogether different tempo to help Gloucestershire break free of the shackles.