JOE Leach and Matthew Waite were both among the wickets on day two of Worcestershire's County Championship clash with Leicestershire at New Road. 

Leach (5-41) and Waite (4-21) did almost all the damage as The Pears bowled the away side out for 180 runs. 

Despite restricting Leicestershire to a low score for the second time, the lead still grew to 271 and Worcestershire lost both openers in the final overs before bad light eventually stopped play, The Pears still needing 245 runs to win.

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It was a bright start from Worcestershire and the ever-reliable Joe Leach continued to lead the way for the bowlers with the early wicket of Josh Davey, who nicked one to Ed Pollock in the slips for 2.

The Bison was into his stride and it wasn't long before he picked up his second wicket of the morning, trapping Will Davis LBW for 12. 

Leach was finding his length and he picked up the big wicket of Colin Ackermann (1) in the 24th over to leave the visitors 89-5.

It was a promising start but the lead was still growing and Lewis Hill and Peter Handscomb were sticking around, adding runs to the score at about four an over.

They reached the 50 partnership in the 38th over of the innings just before lunch and at the interval, they had built a lead of 238.

The afternoon session was delayed by the rain, with the players eventually returning to the field at 3.15PM. 

Hill and Handscomb continued to play patient cricket after the break and were looking to stick around and wear the Worcestershire bowlers down. They built a 71-run partnership off 193 deliveries before Hill was bowled by Matthew Waite. 

And then, just before the tea break, Waite struck three times in a remarkable 57th over that gave the hosts hope heading into the final session of the day.

First, the opening ball of the over had Peter Handscomb (26 off 98) caught by Brett D'Oliveira and then Jack Haynes took two catches in two deliveries to dismiss Wiaan Mulder (8) and Tom Scriven for a golden duck.

The innings came to a swift end when Rehan Ahmed went for a wild swing and was stumped by Gareth Roderick to give Leach his fifth wicket (5-41). Waite contributed four of the other five (4-21), whilst Jack Brooks (1-49) also registered a wicket. 

But, rather frustratingly for all Worcestershire supporters, it was a case of 'same old, same old' to start the second innings as Azhar Ali (0) was caught off Josh Davey in the second over. Ed Pollock followed in the same over two balls later, edging to Tom Scriven for 1. 

Jack Haynes played a couple of nice shots to the boundary and together with Gareth Roderick, the pair got Worcestershire to the close at 26/2.