It was a day for the bowlers at Grace Road where 14 wickets fell for 226 runs, to leave this CricInfo Championship clash between Leicestershire and Lancashire delicately balanced.

Leicestershire closed at 72 for four in their second innings – a lead of 113. In a low-scoring match such as this it would take a brave man to forecast the eventual outcome.

Both sides have batted poorly and the bowlers have prospered, none more so than 38-year-old Devon Malcolm who took five for 78 as Lancashire were dismissed for 199 having started the day at 45 without loss.

The former England fast-bowler insisted he was by no means a spent force when he signed for Leicestershire – and his performance in this match suggests he is right.

He roared in from the Pavilion End during the morning session to claim the wickets of Mark Chilton, Mike Atherton and John Crawley, and then returned in the afternoon to wrap things up with the dismissals of Peter Martin and Muttiah Muralitharan.

Two spectacular slip catches by Daniel Marsh capped a fine performance in the field by the home side, but Lancashire would not have been happy with their batting with Neil Fairbrother top scorer with 45.

A lead of 41 looked more than useful but Lancashire's attack struck back and Leicestershire were immediately in trouble, losing Vince Wells lbw to Martin to the first ball.

Muralitharan then bowled Darren Maddy off his pads, Martin trapped Ben Smith lbw and Aftab Habib went the same way trying to cut a sharply turning off-break from Muralitharan.

That was 64 for four but Iain Sutcliffe remained defiant and was still there at the close having scored 29 off 113 balls.

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