County Championship: Sam Conners gives Derbyshire edge over Leicestershire

Sam Conners (centre) is congratulated by team-mates after taking the wicket of Harry Swindells

Derbyshire seamer Sam Conners continued his fine start to the season by taking 4-62 as Leicestershire were dismissed for 213 on the opening day of the County Championship clash between East Midlands rivals.

Opener Sam Evans top-scored with 63, South African all-rounder Wiaan Mulder made 39 on his Leicestershire debut and Ed Barnes an unbeaten 34 but it was another disappointing first innings by the home side, who have picked up only four batting points from the first three matches of the season.

Sri Lanka Test fast bowler Suranga Lakmal, wicketless against Sussex last week, finished with 2-52 and saw two slip catches spilled, and 19-year-old seamer Nick Potts looked a decent prospect with 2-32 in only his second senior appearance.

But 23-year-old Conners was Derbyshire's brightest spark with the ball, raising his wickets tally for the season to 14.

Skipper Colin Ackermann chose to bat first on a green-tinged pitch but Leicestershire struggled, losing four wickets for 68 runs before lunch and another three in the afternoon.

Mulder, who tested positive for Covid-19 while on Test duty earlier this month, survived a low chance to Alex Thomson at slip off Lakmal on one but grew in assuredness and picked up half a dozen boundaries as he and Evans built a partnership.

After his match-saving half-century at Chester-le-Street, Evans completed another but then gave his wicket away with a poor shot, hanging his bat out to a ball from Conners to give an easy slip catch - and Ed Barnes' 34 not out apart, the innings subsided.

Derbyshire closed on 36-1 in reply, having lost skipper Billy Godleman, but Pakistan star Shan Masood, already past 400 runs for the season in just his fourth innings for the county, was unbeaten on 20.

Derbyshire seamer Sam Conners:

"We will take that as a collective, especially being only one down at the close, which puts us in a really good position. There was enough in the pitch for us and we used it well.

"Everyone put their hand up and put in a shift. Having Suranga in the team has been really valuable.

"He has not gone for many runs and it has made it easier for us at the other end to take wickets. And Nick has so much potential. In the last two games he has shown who he is as a bowler."

Leicestershire's Sam Evans:

"We probably didn't score as many runs as we wanted to but we feel there is enough in the pitch for us to come back and bowl well and set up the game for days three and four.

"There was always a bit of nibble in the pitch that didn't seem to go away all day. To be fair to them, they bowled well and got their rewards.

"It was good to bat with Wiaan. He is very relaxed. We've seen what he can do in the nets and it was nice to see that in the middle and he will bring a lot with the ball as well."

Report supplied by the ECB reporters' Network