Henderson tilts game for Leicestershire

Surrey 160 for 6 trail Leicestershire 479 by 319 runs

Scorecard

Claude Henderson re-established Leicestershire's authority with two key wickets in five balls after Surrey had battled their way back in the match between the bottom two sides in the County Championship second division at The Oval. Surrey slumped from 110 for 1 to 160 for 6 at the close and now face the prospect of following on on a pitch offering increasing turn.

Their prospects had seemed far better when they claimed Leicestershire's last five wickets for 22 in six overs after lunch, restricting them to a total of 479. And although Arun Harinath was then caught at second slip off Harry Gurney's fourth ball, Steven Davies and Mark Ramprakash put on a century stand for the second wicket.

Davies completed a half-century off 62 balls, but slow left-armer Henderson had already gained psychological successes against Davies and Ramprakash before bagging their wickets. First Davies, who hit 13 fours in his 69, turned Henderson to short square leg, Jigar Naik picking up a sharp catch.

Younis Khan took a fortuitous single off his first ball, almost playing on in the process, and Ramprakash (30), edged the last ball of the over to slip. Surrey lost their fourth wicket with the score on 125 when Nathan Buck tumbled low to his left to pull off a brilliant return catch and get rid of Younis.

Henderson, who had Rory Hamilton-Brown dropped at slip before he had scored, matched Buck's effort to get rid of the Surrey captain 10 minutes from the close and in the next over Gareth Batty fell to a catch at short leg.

Proceedings had been far more mundane early on, particularly during a first session in which Leicestershire added 104 to their overnight 337 for 4, losing only Jacques du Toit for 81. Tom New, who survived a tough chance to Davies behind the stumps when he had made 27, went on to complete a low-key 50 off 143 balls, and was well supported by Naik in a sixth-wicket stand of 98 in 34 overs.

Jade Dernbach, the unlucky bowler when New was reprieved, could count on little assistance from a typically placid Oval pitch, but Surrey's leading wicket-taker varied his length intelligently to finish with 5 for 87. Naik and Henderson were both bowled by full-length balls while New, who went into the 90s with only his seventh four, attempted to hook Dernbach's next ball and gloved it to Davies. Offspinner Batty then wrapped up the Leicestershire innings with a sharp caught-and-bowled to dismiss last man Gurney.