County Championship: Leicestershire draw with Derbyshire in rain-hit game

Lewis Hill has led his Leicestershire side to the top of the early-season Division Two table

Centuries from Colin Ackermann and captain Lewis Hill, followed by a fine spell of seam bowling by Chris Wright, saw Leicestershire secure the bonus points they needed to go to the top of Division Two in their severely rain-affected championship draw against Derbyshire.

No play had been possible on the previous two days, and with the pitch still relatively new and the outfield still very damp, there was no serious prospect of Hill and opposite number Leus Du Plooy agreeing to set up a final-day run-chase for the visitors.

Instead it was a case of maximising the bonus-point return, and, led by Hill, whose undefeated 162 was his first-class best, Leicestershire did just that before leaving Derbyshire 48 overs of batting.

The visitors responded in kind through Brooke Guest (92) and Wayne Madsen (75), before Wright's 4-38 helped the Foxes secure a further two bowling bonus points.

Resuming with their partnership already worth 141, Ackermann and Hill continued where they left off on Thursday.

Ackermann, who had made 67 and 72 in Leicestershire's opening-match victory over Yorkshire at Headingley, looked back to his considerable best, hitting 18 fours in reaching his century off 165 balls before falling leg before to Anuj Dal.

As on day one, Derbyshire's seamers struggled to bowl a consistently threatening line and length, with the honourable exception of Zak Chappell, whose endeavour was rewarded when he had Peter Handscomb caught at second slip - one of four catches in the innings for Madsen.

Chappell went on to pick up the wickets of Rehan Ahmed, Wright and Michael Finan to ensure Derbyshire picked up three bowling bonus points.

Hill, however, remained admirably unflustered, reaching his hundred off 211 balls, before accelerating after lunch and passing 150 for the first time in first-class cricket.

With nothing to lose, Derbyshire's batters went for their shots, Madsen and Guest putting on 143 for the third wicket after Wright had had Haider Ali leg before wicket.

At one stage it looked as though Derbyshire might reach 300 and a second batting point of their own, but Wright came back to dismiss Madsen, bowled off the inside edge, and Matt Lamb and Anuj Dal caught at slip, before the players shook hands with two overs remaining.

Leicestershire head coach Paul Nixon:

"Given the circumstances of the game 12 points is a good return. Credit to our groundstaff because this ground was almost under water after the second day.

"I'm delighted that, after they way we played against Yorkshire, our batting has gone back to back. That's very important.

"Big partnerships make such a difference. Sol Budinger played nicely up front, and then Lewis with a career-best, and Colin with a century. He deserved it after the way he played at Headingley.

"Our target after declaring was to take six wickets and we did that. Chris Wright bowled very well, especially up the hill, on an incredibly good pitch."

Derbyshire head of cricket Mickey Arthur:

"I still feel we're lacking a little bit with our bowling consistency. Zak Chappell was good. He came back really well. But we still have a lot of work to do.

"Suranga Lakmal, Ben Aitchison, Ajmal Dal and Mark Watts will all play in the seconds this week. We just need to get some overs into them and find some discipline.

"We batted really well. We wanted to get 300 and two points and our intent was good, in the end we only managed one but the signs were good.

"Before the season started I thought it would be quite a good time to have a break next week but we've played so little cricket it's now not ideal. We'll just have to make the most of it."

Report supplied by the ECB Reporters' Network.