Leicestershire secure innings win over Yorkshire

Rothesay County Championship, Division One, Uptonsteel Grace Road, Leicester (day three)

Yorkshire 185 & 229: Moriarty 51*; Davey 3-36, A Patel 3-59

Leicestershire 453: Ahmed 128, Kelly 121; Moriarty 4-85

Leicestershire (23 pts) beat Yorkshire (2 pts) by an innings and 39 runs

Match scorecard

Leicestershire completed an emphatic victory inside three days as Yorkshire were bowled out for 229 at Uptonsteel Grace Road, Jonny Bairstow's side sinking to a third defeat of the season by an innings and 39 runs.

Bairstow himself went for a three-ball duck as the Foxes, who went into this round rock bottom of Division One after four consecutive defeats, registered their first win of the campaign - their first at this level since 2003 after ending a 22-year exile as Division Two champions last year.

Alex Green, the 19-year-old pace bowler who picked up his maiden first-class wickets in Yorkshire's first innings, added three more, with three each for New Zealand spinner Ajaz Patel and for Scotland international seamer Josh Davey.

Dan Moriarty and Dom Bess held things up, the former cracking 11 boundaries in a career-best unbeaten 51 after Bess had hit seven fours in a defiant 40, the last two wickets adding 95 before Alex Green bowled number 11 Jack White for 21.

Given that, bar one change, it was the same Leicestershire line-up, heavily depleted by injuries and absences, that was easily beaten by Essex on this ground a week ago, it was a result few would have predicted, not least Yorkshire, who began the season with title aspirations but may now be looking with concern at the narrowing gap between themselves and the bottom two.

Yorkshire resumed at 32-2, still 236 behind after centuries by Rehan Ahmed and Nick Kelly had put Leicestershire in a commanding position on day two.

They lost a third wicket inside three overs as wicketkeeper Ben Cox took a superb catch, diving to his right to remove Sam Whiteman via an inside edge, giving Davey a third wicket.

James Wharton and Matthew Revis added 31, but just as it seemed they might have found a way through a tough period, Alex Green entered the attack to take two key wickets in the space of four deliveries.

Generating good pace at the Bennett End, the England Under-19 international had Revis caught behind, driving, before bowling Bairstow through the gate, perhaps via a thin inside edge.

It was impressive stuff from the teenager, who stands at 6ft 6ins (198 cm) with broad shoulders to boot. Play was held up when he rapped Wharton on the right hand, the batter requiring lengthy treatment on the field before he could continue.

In the event, Wharton was the next to depart, stretching forward to defend against left-arm spinner Patel but somehow leaving a gap through which he was bowled.

Some calculated and profitable risk-taking by George Hill and Bess forced Leicestershire skipper Ben Green to take his namesake out of the attack, after which the seventh-wicket pair dealt well enough with spin at both ends to make it to lunch at 121-6.

Yet that changed with the first ball of the afternoon, Hill departing leg before to Patel, his front pad not far enough forward to be given the benefit of the doubt.

New man Hassan Ali was not long following him in, the Pakistan quick sending one skywards off Ben Green to be caught at short mid-wicket.

Bess and Moriarty held up Leicestershire's push for victory for more than three quarters of an hour, but after 70 balls at the crease, Bess slashed at one from Patel outside off stump and was well held by Rishi Patel at slip.

Yet Moriarty excelled himself in completing a maiden half-century off 84 balls, hammering Patel down the ground for his 11th boundary, the last wicket adding 67 before Alex Green finally castled White to finish the job.

Leicestershire's stand-in captain Ben Green said:

"It's been a long time coming, a first win for the club in Division One since 2003, I believe, and a very pleasing all-round team performance.

"We keep saying that we've not been far away and I feel like today, the last three days, is the culmination of what we're about as a club.

"What we've done is to really go back to the basics, to being process-driven in our thinking with bat and ball, and having that team-first mentality.

"This week has just shown us what we're capable of as a group and given us a kind of blueprint to use moving into that last block of Championship games.

"We know that if we play anywhere close to how we've played this game, then we'll be incredibly competitive."

Yorkshire head coach Anthony McGrath said:

"It was one of our worst performances of the season but first of all I have to give credit to Leicestershire.

"They've outperformed us with bat and ball and I don't want anything I say to detract from that. They are fighting for their lives and it is their first win, so we have to give them congratulations.

"For us, it was a performance that's come from nowhere, having played so well for the last month. The way we played against Surrey and Warwickshire gave us such a good feeling. Last week we were just a couple of wickets away from going second or third in the league.

"So everything felt like it was in our favour but then we've come here and, from 11:10 on the first morning until now we've been abject, terrible."

Report by ECB Reporters' Network, supported by Rothesay.