LONDON, May 5: Leicestershire were indebted to their Asian stars away to Essex in the English County Championship on Thursday.

The city of Leicester boasts the largest Asian population in England and, unusually for a county side, they have an Indian Dinesh Mongia and one from Pakistan Mohammad Asif in the same team.

Mongia top-scored with 165 in a Leicestershire innings of 417. Then paceman Asif took over, taking five for 56, as Essex were bowled out for 242.

Despite going wicketless as Essex followed on, Asif drew praise from coach Tim Boon. “Though it may be hard to imagine, Asif bowled better in the second innings without luck,” said Boon.

“I lost count of the number of times he beat the outside edge but that is encouraging for us because there still some juice in the wicket for him to exploit.

“Asif is a world class performer and he showed that today by bowling exceptionally well. They had left some grass on this pitch and he made the most of that to zip it around off the seam.”—AFP