only 130 ahead with seven second wickets down but the left-handers Vince Broderick and Bob Clarke added 86 for the eighth wicket. Leicestershire needed 250 and when Berry and Gerry Lester began with 119 they looked capable of getting them. Brown then took a wicket in each of three overs and finished with six for 105, the last one nine minutes from time. Centuries from Berry, Charles Palmer, Leicestershire’s captain, Brookes and Livingston (259 for the second wicket) turned the August Bank Holiday return into a high-scoring affair. Northamptonshire, facing 441, gained a lead on the first innings after lunch on the third day. However, Leicestershire just managed to avoid defeat in 1951 at the County Ground, thanks to the efforts of Vic Jackson and Walsh and last pair, Jeff Goodwin and Charles Wooler. This was one of a sequence of half-a-dozen inconclusive matches, some rain-affected, although Palmer could look back with pride at 119 at Grace Road in 1952 and 201 at the County Ground in 1953. These were heady times for Leicestershire; indeed for three days in August 1953 they led the Championship, a position they had never held before. The Whitsun game at the County Ground was drawn but Leicestershire gained an astonishing win at Grace Road in August. They were 143 behind on the first innings, Bob Clarke’s left-arm seamers bringing him seven for 33. Vic Jackson’s off breaks and Walsh’s usual magic took care of Northamptonshire’s second innings and Leicestershire needed 311. They soon lost Lester but Maurice Hallam helped Tompkin add 88 for the second wicket. Palmer and Tompkin then came together in an unbroken third wicket partnership of 212 which carried their side to victory. Tompkin hit 17 fours in a superb 143 and Palmer ten in his 96. It was Northamptonshire’s first defeat by a county side that season and one of four wins in five which sustained Leicestershire’s title challenge. Livingston made two hundreds in the 1954 games, Northamptonshire winning at the County Ground by an innings in August, Broderick’s slow left-arm bowling bringing him ten in the match and they won again at Grace Road in 1955 despite a Palmer hundred. Earlier that year, at Whitsun, Livingston hit his third consecutive hundred against Leicestershire. The 1956 matches were drawn but Northamptonshire completed a double in 1957, when they were runners-up to Surrey, albeit a long way behind. They completed their third consecutive holiday victory with a win off the fourth ball of the final over (Raman Subba Row an unbeaten 70) at Grace Road in 1958 before Leicestershire stopped the rot with a narrow win at the County Ground in August. Here the home batsmen got a taste of their own medicine on the spin-friendly pitch, John Savage with off breaks returning six for 37 and eight for 62, outbowling Tribe and Jack Manning. It was 1963 before the counties met again over the holidays, Northamptonshire winning by five wickets at the County Ground with three minutes to spare after Mick Norman had made a hundred in the first innings and 51 in the second. Then Leicestershire, who finished with only Derbyshire below them, caused a shock at Grace Road. The pitch was affected by rain and bowlers had the upper hand, apart from Leicestershire’s Clive Inman and Alan Wharton. Northamptonshire were set an unlikely 235 by Hallam and were bowled out by the spin of Savage and Raymond Smith. During this period, Leicestershire met Derbyshire in 1959 and 1962, Warwickshire in 1960 and 1961 and Worcestershire in 1964. Northamptonshire’s opponents were Derbyshire in 1960, 1961 and 1964 and Warwickshire in 1959 and 1962. Of 28 holiday matches from 1946 to 1963, Leicestershire v Northamptonshire 169