COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION TWO, Grace Road:
CLOSE OF PLAY, DAY TWO: Leicestershire 295 & 147-1, Gloucestershire 159
Leics 5pts, Glos 3pts
Match scorecard

Greg Smith faced 144 balls for his unbeaten 70, hitting seven fours

Leicestershire dominated the second day at Grace Road to all but end Gloucestershire's hopes of winning promotion from Division Two.

After resuming on 54-2, the visitors were bowled out for 159, a deficit of 136, despite 61 from Hamish Marshall.

The home side then rammed home their advantage by reaching 147-1 at stumps, with Greg Smith unbeaten on 70.

Gloucestershire need to win their last two games, and hope other results go for them, for a chance of going up.

The start was delayed for 45 minutes because of damp conditions, after which Gloucestershire's feeble batting was blown away.

Only Marshall showed any resistance as the visitors lost their last eight wickets for 105 runs, Nathan Buck claiming three wickets, while Nadeem Malik, Jigar Naik and Claude Henderson weighed in with two apiece.

Leicestershire tightened the screw further when Smith shared an opening stand of 69 with Matt Boyce (36), ended when Boyce mistimed a pull off James Franklin to mid wicket.

But there were to be no more alarms for Leicestershire as Smith joined forces with Jacques du Toit (34 not out) for an unbroken second-wicket partnership of 78.

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