Holland puts Leics on top in Cardiff

Ian Holland has made 21 international appearances for the USA

Rothesay County Championship Division Two, Sophia Gardens, Cardiff (day one)

Glamorgan 229 (74.3 overs): Cooke 55; Holland 3-40, Mike 3-55

Leicestershire 65-1 (19 overs): Budinger 36*

Leicestershire (3 pts) trail Glamorgan (0 pts) by 164 runs with nine first-innings wickets standing

Match scorecard

Ian Holland led the way for Leicestershire's bowlers as they dismissed Glamorgan for 229 to take the upper hand in Cardiff.

The Australian-bred American international claimed important top-order wickets in his 3-40.

Chris Cooke, last out for 55, led some late resistance.

Holland fell for seven in the Leicestershire reply but Sol Budinger (36*) led the Foxes to 65-1 in reply..

On a grey and damp morning Leicestershire had no hesitation in bowling first against a Glamorgan side including short-term signings Shoaib Bashir, the England spinner on loan from Somerset, and Asitha Fernando, the first Sri Lankan to play for Glamorgan.

Holland's first ball got rid of Zain Ul Hassan, edging to slip, but Eddie Byrom got the scoreboard moving with his first 36 runs coming in boundaries.

The Foxes' five-man seam attack gained consistent movement and Tom Scriven trapped Sam Northeast lbw for 17, before Ben Green found the edge of Byrom's bat for 41.

As the sun came though and the cool sounds of a nearby jazz performance drifted into the ground, Kiran Carlson (25) and Colin Ingram (32) started the afternoon brightly.

But Holland rattled Carlson's stumps and pinned Ingram lbw in the space of four overs, with Scriven quickly dispatching Ben Kellaway to put the bowlers firmly in control as they continued to find some movement off a green-tinged pitch.

Mike was next to step up for the visitors with a couple of wickets as the run-rate dropped.

Cooke had a painstaking start but battled through to add 53 in a ninth-wicket stand with Bashir (20) to earn some token respectability.

With Leicestershire opener Rishi Patel sidelined by a thumb injury suffered early on in the field, Holland stepped up to open alongside Sol Budinger but was caught at slip off Timm van der Gugten for seven.

Budinger survived a slip chance on 18 off van der Gugten and profited in a partnership with Ben Mike, surprisingly promoted to number three, as Fernando's bustling early overs for Glamorgan proved fruitless.

Glamorgan's Chris Cooke told BBC Sport Wales:

"It was hard work for the batters early on, the ball was doing quite a bit and they bowled really well. It was nice to get a decent score on the board and we bowled well at the end, we could have had three or four down.

"It was always one of those days where you had to hang in and scrap hard, and it would get easier as the day went on.

"We're definitely in the game, but the bowlers will have to be disciplined because it might get a bit flatter, so we'll have to create the pressure."

Leicestershire's Ian Holland told BBC Radio Leicester:

"We're happy with how the day went and we're in a pretty reasonable position in the game. Hopefully we can bat well and get our noses in front.

"There was movement early, it did seam around with the Duke ball, but the wicket here usually plays better as the sun hits it so it was nice to bowl them out."

"We'll assess Rishi's injury and fingers crossed he's not out for too long."