Abandonment at Grace Road

The first day of Leicestershire's LV= County Championship game against Essex at Grace Road was abandoned at lunchtime without a ball being bowled.

Heavy rain throughout the morning left umpires Steve Garratt and John Holder with little option but to call off play, with the outfield saturated and the square totally covered as the rain continued to fall.

Leicestershire expect to be unchanged from the side that collected their first championship win of the season a week ago, while Essex have Hashim Amla continuing to deputise as the overseas player for Danish Kaneria.