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.