what was a wettish pitch with a slow outfield Essex hit over the top and ended on 264 for 5 off their 50 overs, with Andy Flower and Ravinder Bopara recording half-centuries. Devon were bowled out for just under a third of that score, making 84, although that could be seen as a recovery from 23 for 6 – a position they were in thanks to Essex pacers Andre Adams and Darren Gough, who shared three wickets each with the new ball. Devon's Neil Hancock, who turned out in two Twenty20 games and one National League match for Somerset in 2004, top scored with 40 despite batting at seven. (Cricinfo scorecard) County Championship: Essex v Leicestershire (6–9 May) Essex (21pts) beat Leicestershire (3.5pts) by six wickets In a relatively closely fought game at Chelmsford, the Essex team showed more resilience than the visitors, as all the Essex players contributed with either 25 runs, five wickets or five catches. It started with a good bowling effort on the first day after Ronnie Irani had chosen to put Leicestershire in. Darren Robinson and Darren Maddy then put on 98 as Essex failed to get a wicket in the first hour and a half, but the part-time medium pace of Essex number three Ravinder Bopara got Maddy out, and four middle-order batsmen were dismissed in single figures as Leicestershire lost eight wickets for 69. David Masters (27) and Phil DeFreitas (20) added 49 for the ninth wicket to take Leicestershire to a final total of 220 in 81 overs. Dale Steyn, the young South African pace bowler with three Test caps, took three for 69 on Essex debut, but Darren Gough got the best figures with three for 46 – including Robinson, Paul Nixon for a golden duck and DeFreitas. Every Essex batsman except number 11 Steyn (run out for 0) scored in double figures, and William Jefferson top-scoring with 93 as Essex got into a relatively comfortable lead of 142, despite three wickets from DeFreitas and Ottis Gibson. Leicestershire surpassed their first innings score with five wickets in hand the second time around, though, before Gough and Napier dug out two wickets to have them 228 for 7. Robinson, Dinesh Mongia, Aftab Habib and HD Ackerman had all passed 30, and Claude Henderson paired up with Ackerman to add 96 for the eighth wicket – the second-highest partnership of the match, as