Leicestershire started the season in style with a comprehensive 10-wicket win against Glamorgan after a commanding display across four days in Cardiff.
Victory was achieved half an hour after lunch, with Mark Cosgrove’s team gaining a healthy 23 points and demonstrating to the other teams in Specsavers County Championship Division Two that they are no longer whipping boys after spending three seasons propping up the table.
The hosts began the day on 172 for eight in their second innings – just 93 ahead – and any chance they had of making a game of it went when Michael Hogan was caught behind off Ben Raine for 23 and Graham Wagg was run out by Angus Robson for 33.
That saw them dismissed for 191 and left Leicestershire needing only 113 for victory, with Robson and Paul Horton taking just 36.1 overs to knock the runs off. Horton made 64, while Robson finished unbeaten on 49.
Australian Clint McKay had done much of the damage earlier in the contest, taking six first-innings wickets and eight in the match, while Horton’s second half-century of the game highlighted the impressive recruitment that the Foxes have done over the winter.
Glamorgan, meanwhile, had managed a decent first-innings total of 348, but then let themselves down at the start of Leicestershire’s innings when the openers were dropped three times before lunch and then allowed to score 147 for the last four wickets.
What a time to be a sports fan from Leicester! https://t.co/MBTTziQnnn
— County Championship (@CountyChamp) April 20, 2016
Leicestershire’s elite performance director Andrew McDonald was thrilled with a strong team performance from his side.
“I’m thrilled with the very professional performance over the four days,” he said.
“All our batsmen contributed, while our bowlers – after perhaps a below-par performance in the first innings – were spot on in the second innings.
“They got the rewards they deserved , while Mark Cosgrove and the others who make up the leadership team – Horton, [Mark] Pettini and [Neil] Dexter- were always talking and discussing tactics.”
Glamorgan skipper Jacques Rudolph added: “It’s a wake up call, and we must learn that after being 132 for two it is not acceptable to lose three wickets for one run.
“Our catching was not good enough, but it was not easy on the second day fielding in the slips in the bitterly cold conditions.”
Source: ECB