George Hill’s six takes Yorkshire into the promotion spots

Yorkshire 379 (Tattersall 126, Fisher 88, Scriven 4-103) beat Leicestershire 98 (Cox 51, Coad 5-15, Fisher 3-38) and 209 (Rehan 77, Hill 6-59) by an innings and 72 runs

Yorkshire moved a step closer to securing promotion after completing a three-day victory over Leicestershire in Division Two of the Vitality County Championship despite more time lost to the weather.

Leicestershire, who had trailed by 281 on first innings after being dismissed for 98, were bowled out for 209 second time around as all-rounder George Hill played the starring role.

The 23-year-old seamer took the last half-dozen wickets to fall for season’s best figures of 6 for 59, handing Yorkshire a fourth win in five matches by an innings and 72 runs, the last wicket falling just as dark clouds were threatening to cause a fourth stoppage in a disrupted day.

The win lifts Yorkshire to second place in the table, where they will find themselves with two games left if Middlesex fail to beat Gloucestershire at Lord’s.

All-rounder Rehan Ahmed celebrated his England recall with an aggressive but well-crafted 77 from 86 balls but India star Ajinkya Rahane could make only 32 and, with top-scorer Peter Handscomb having returned to Australia for his own domestic season, Leicestershire were unable to force Yorkshire to bat a second time.

After more than half of day two was lost to the weather, rain restricted the opening session of day three to 14 overs, during which Leicestershire, who had been 35 for 2 overnight, advanced to 90 for 3, still 191 runs away from making Yorkshire bat again.

Yorkshire’s pace spearhead of Coad and Fisher were eager to build on their work of the two days before, having shared eight wickets as Leicestershire were shot out for 98 on day one, which Fisher followed up by picking up both second-innings wickets to fall before rain set in on Tuesday.

Coad’s celebrations were cut short in the fifth over of the morning when his appeal for caught behind against Ajinkya Rahane was turned down and it was Fisher who drew first blood on the day as Lewis Hill was caught low down at second slip in the next over.

Two boundaries in Fisher’s next over gave immediate notice of Rehan Ahmed’s intended approach to his side’s predicament. He was dropped at first slip on 13 off Jordan Thompson shortly before the first of the day’s stoppages but looked in good touch nonetheless and he and Rahane, fresh from his first century for Leicestershire last week, had added 50 in as many minutes – 38 from Ahmed – when the England player crashed Coad square on the off-side for his seventh boundary.

Ahmed lofted Coad somewhat imperiously over long-on for six and brought up his personal half-century from 47 balls, but if the division’s current leading wicket-taker was beginning to suffer any frustrations, they were abated in an instant when Rahane bottom-edged him into his own stumps, a major breakthrough regardless of Ahmed’s impact at the other end. At 131 for 4, Leicestershire were still 150 in arrears.

Yet in the event, it was Hill who delivered the decisive spell of the day after replacing Fisher in the attack just before Rahane’s dismissal.

In the space of six overs before tea, the 23-year-old found enough movement to remove Louis Kimber and Ben Cox leg before and, crucially, Ahmed, responding to belted back down the ground for six by finding the outside edge, Adam Lyth taking the catch at second slip.

Hill’s spell continued after the interval and soon accounted for Tom Scriven, also leg before, before clipping Scott Currie’s off stump with another fine delivery past the outside edge, the wicket giving him the second five-wicket haul of his career after his 6 for 26 against Lancashire at Old Trafford in 2022.

After 33 overs already lost on the day, Yorkshire were looking upwards anxiously as dark clouds rolled in from the west but Hill spared his teammates the prospect of coming back tomorrow as last man Chris Wright skied one into the offside field and Fisher ran round from mid-off to take the catch at just before 4:40pm.