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Essex 13 for 2 trail Leicestershire 238 (Cosgrove 71, Robson 52, Porter 4-50) by 225 runs Scorecard These are puzzling days at Leicestershire.On the face of things, this season has offered impressive improvement. After years among the also runs of the County Championship, here they are in late-August with a realistic chance of promotion. Going into this game, they were second in the table. If that sounds modest, it has to be remembered that they have not played in the top division since 2003 and did not win a single game in this division in 2013 and 2014. The improvement is welcome.The ground has improved, too. There are floodlights, new broadcasting facilities and improved stands. All of it is welcome.But scratch beneath the surface and you are left wondering how deep the roots of this recovery stretch. The only man in this side (Lewis Hill) who could indisputably claim to be home grown was making his first Championship appearance of the season and none of the top four were born in the UK.That is fine, up to a point. The addition of seasoned professionals may well have been required to alter the culture of a club that had become accustomed to losing. Their attitude and experience alongside some local talent could shape the future of the club.But theres the rub. Because the local talent isnt getting a game. Instead Atif Sheikh, a left-arm bowler of rare pace, has been released, Jigar Naik is seemingly sentenced to a future in the seconds, Aadil Ali, about whom there was such hope ahead of the season, hasnt played a first-class game since June and Zak Chappell, a promising fast bowler, here missed out to 27-year-old Dieter Klein, a journeyman South African making his first-class debut for the club who nabbed Alastair Cook as a notable maiden Championship wicket.Of course there is a balance to be struck. Of course young payers cannot be flung into the side without support. Of course in these mobile, multi-cultural times you would expect a team based in a city like Leicester to host players with wildly varied backgrounds. Of course the likes of Angus Robson, who here compiled a patient half-century, could go on to provide years of service for the club and be seen as Leicester through and through.But for five of this team to be born in Australia or South Africa and only one to have progressed through the clubs system suggests that balance has not been found. And for all the talk of embracing the local Asian community, there is no Asian face in the side here and very few in the stands. The two are probably connected.Leicestershire could claim, with some justification, that several players who developed through the club and might be playing for them even now (Stuart Broad, James Taylor, Greg Smith, Harry Gurney and Luke Wright, among others) had larger clubs not enticed them elsewhere. But Essex could say much the same. They have lost Adam Wheater, Reece Topley, Ben Foakes, Tymal Mills, Varun Chopra and Mark Pettini among many others. Yet they still fielded a side containing eight home grown players here.Most of all, Leicestershire could claim that it was always going to take time to turn things around here. So deep was the descent into mediocrity and irrelevance that it was always going to take years to produce a locally resourced, competitive side that reflected its local community. They are not so far into the rebuilding process that a judgement can yet be made as to its effectiveness.It would have been nice to put these points to the clubs head coach, but Andrew McDonald declined the interview request until the end of the match. Perhaps Leicestershire are happy with an attendance of 800 (their highest Championship gate of the season) and the absence of independent coverage? Or perhaps the club are reluctant to put McDonald into a tricky position while his future remains uncertain. Despite having a contract with the club until the end of 2018, rumours linking him with a full-time return to Australia continue. He has already taken the Melbourne Renegades position; the Victoria role remains open. Some well-placed sources expect an announcement within days.And it needs to be asked how much have Leicestershire really improved under him? Or have they just plugged the holes with imports? Are they really any different now to the side that was ridiculed for filling itself with Kolpak registrations? If they are going to fulfil a role for English cricket - and they have a fine history of doing just that - they have to grow their own or improve those who were unloved elsewhere. In two or three of this side - Ned Eckersley, Robson and Ben Raine - they have such players. But there is a huge amount of room for improvement.They didnt have a bad day here. Put in on a green track that had been used for a previous Championship match, they found themselves on a hat-trick in the first over from Jamie Porter. Paul Horton played around one that may have nipped in and Neil Dexter was caught on the crease by an inswinger.But Mark Cosgrove and Robson added 129, with Robson showing admirable patience - he scored three from his first 38 deliveries - and Cosgrove feasting on anything on his legs to provide the foundations of a decent score on what Leicestershire say they hope is a result wicket.Both were troubled by the pace of Graham Napier. Still able to coax life out of a slow pitch even a few weeks from retirement, Napier produced a bouncer that took Cosgroves glove and ballooned just over Cooks head in the slips - Cook appeared to get a hand to the chance but could not cling on - and eventually defeated Robson with a fuller ball that seemed to surprise him with pace. It was the eighth time this season Robson had made a half-century but he has been unable to convert any of them into a century.Pettini was bowled leaving one that nipped back before Eckersley saw the ball dribbled off his bat and onto his stumps as he dropped his hand on an off-break from Tom Westley. By the time Cosgrove was bowled by a lovely, swinging yorker - his attempt to whip it through midwicket resulted in a lost middle stump - he was only four short of 1,000 Championship runs for the season.Leicestershire also enjoyed a couple of early wickets in reply. Cook, playing his sixth Championship match of the season with a view to helping top-of-the-table Essex secure promotion, was bowled by a full, swinging ball that clipped his off stump, before the nightwatchman, Porter, was adjudged - somewhat unfortunately, it appeared - to have been given out caught behind off the glove.So their promotion hopes remain alive. But, long term, you wonder what progress has really been made with this team.Wholesale Soccer Jerseys China .Y. -- Sabres defenceman Tyler Myers had no intention of changing his hard-hitting style before taking part in a disciplinary hearing for his illegal check to New Jersey forward Dainius Zubrus head. Cheap Soccer Jerseys Authentic .35 million, one-year contract that avoided salary arbitration. Plouffe batted .254 with 14 home runs and 52 RBIs in 477 at-bats last season, his second as a regular in the lineup. https://www.soccerjerseyschina.us/ . Coach Mike Munchak says Fokou stretched ligaments in his left knee Oct. 13 against Seattle, which could keep out up to five weeks even though the linebacker didnt need surgery. Cheap Soccer Jerseys . Detroit and Boston are deadlocked, 1-1, and Tigers manager Jim Leyland could be forgiven if he was caught rationalizing instead of dissecting how his club could blow a 5-1 lead late in Game 2. Wholesale Soccer Jerseys . William Carrier opened the scoring for Cape Breton (6-4-2), but Andrew Ryan tied the game and Brent Andrews put the Mooseheads (8-6-0) in front for good with a short-handed goal at 13:49 of the second period.ANAHEIM, Calif. - Albert Pujols turned back the clock and pulled out the kind of majestic home run stroke that helped him hit 30 or more in each of his 12 previous seasons in the major leagues. There was no doubt about this one, and it couldnt have come at a better time for the Los Angeles Angels. Pujols hit a go-ahead homer in the eighth inning and drove in three runs, leading the Angels to a 4-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday night. His ninth of the season not only got Jered Weaver off the hook, but also third baseman Alberto Callaspo, whose third-inning fielding error led to a pair of unearned runs. "I knew it was out of the park as soon as I hit it," Pujols said. "It just felt good because it gave us the lead. Even though Weaver didnt get the win, he pitched very well and gave us a chance to score some runs and come out with a win." Cubs starter Scott Feldman took a 3-1 lead into the seventh before former Texas Rangers teammate Josh Hamilton led off with a double and scored on Howie Kendricks third single of the game, which made him 8 for 18 against the right-hander. James Russell came in and retired the next three batters, including Callaspo on a sacrifice bunt. But Erick Aybar greeted Carlos Villanueva (1-4) with a leadoff single through the box, and Pujols drove his first-pitch homer over the double-decker bullpen in left field after Mike Trout flied out. "He wasnt supposed to even come close to throwing that pitch in that situation," Cubs manager Dale Sveum said with a tinge of disgust. "Somewhere down the line, we lost the scouting report from the bullpen to the mound." Villanueva was understandably downcast in the clubhouse talking about the 17th home run allowed by the Cubs bullpen. "It caught too much plate. Its as simple as that," Villanueva said. "If I make a better pitch there, maybe its a different result. But Pujols is a great hitter. I dont really have to say that. So to a hitter, you cant miss by that much over the plate in that situation. He did what he was supposed to do — put it in the seats." Pujols, who has hit 54 of his 484 career home runs against Cubs pitching, is batting just .244 with 35 RBIs in 57 games. After he struck out in the third inning, he was soundly booed by the crowd. "Numbers-wise, its nowhere where I want to be. But I feel like Im one swing away from turning things around," the three-time NL MVP said. "I dont give up, man. I take every game like its the last game of my career. I go out there every day, try to fight and get a good pitch to hit and hopefully do something to help the ballclub win. Yesterday and the day before, I put a good swing on the ball and didnt do the damage I should do. Its frustrating because I know Im not too far away from it." Robert Coello (2-1) pitched a scoreless eighth for the win and Ernesto Frieri got three outs for his 13th save in 14 attempts. Weaver struck out five and was charged with an earned run and six hits over six innings in his fourth start this season and second since coming off the disabled list.dddddddddddd He is 0-2 with two no-decisions in four starts against Feldman, who spent his eight previous big league seasons with the AL West-rival Texas Rangers. "Hes got good stuff," Weaver said. "Hes kind of changed his approach over the years. He was a hard thrower and a mid-90s (mph) guy, and now hes mixing in that split-finger and that cutter a lot. So hes kind of developed into a great pitcher and hes obviously proven that this year. He kept our guys off balance, but we were able to battle back and get that big homer by Pujols to put us back on top." Feldman allowed two runs and six hits in six-plus innings. In his previous head-to-head duel with Weaver, on Sept. 19, 2009, Feldman beat him 3-2 at Texas for the 17th and final win of his best season in the majors. "You realize its going to be tough to scrape up runs against Weaver because hes one of the best," Feldman said. "Hes always going out there and leaving his heart on the field." The Angels, coming off an embarrassing four-game sweep by the visiting Houston Astros — the team with the worst record in the AL — won for the third time in nine games. The Cubs snapped a 1-all tie in the third after Callaspo fumbled David DeJesus leadoff grounder on the infield grass, his fifth error this season and fourth in three games. One out later, Weaver walked Anthony Rizzo and gave up an RBI single to Alfonso Soriano. Ryan Sweeney, who had three hits, delivered the second run of the inning with a two-out single — his first RBI in 26 career at-bats against Weaver to that point. Chicago opened the scoring in the first on a broken-bat RBI single from Nate Schierholtz with two outs, after Weaver hit Luis Valbuena with a 1-2 pitch and gave up an opposite-field single to Rizzo. The Angels tied it in the bottom half on Pujols sacrifice fly, after a leadoff double by Aybar and an infield hit by Trout. This is the Cubs second visit to Anaheim since interleague play began in 1997. They took two of three in 2004. NOTES: With another Los Angeles vs. Chicago confrontation going on up the freeway at Staples Center between the Kings and Blackhawks in Game 3 of the NHLs Western Conference finals, the baseball game drew 32,223 — 4,772 below the Angels season average. ... One catcher picked off the other at first base in the second inning when Chicagos Welington Castillo caught Chris Iannetta leaning too far off the bag with runners at the corners. ... This was the first of eight home games the Angels will play against NL Central teams. ... Three of Weavers four starts have been against NL teams. ... The Angels have committed 39 errors, second-worst in the AL behind Houstons 40. ... LHP Scott Downs relieved Weaver, pitching a perfect seventh inning with two strikeouts in his first appearance since May 26. ' ' '