Bowlers were the dominant force when Essex and Leicestershire locked horns on the opening day of their LV County Championship Division Two match at Chelmsford.

A total of 18 wickets fell for 293 runs as honours just about finished even.

After Leicestershire were bowled out for 159 having won the toss, Essex responded with 134 for eight.

But despite the clatter of wickets, the pitch was not nearly as bad as the efforts of the batsmen would have one believe.

This was confirmed by umpires John Holder and Steve Garrett.

Although the occasional delivery did keep low, the majority of batsmen were the victims of their own demise with a succession of poor stroke selection.

David Masters, playing against his former county, was mainly responsible for Leicestershire's problems with a career-best six for 24 from 14 overs.

He picked up three wickets in each of his two spells, his first two successes accounting for Hylton Ackerman and Tom New in only his second over.

With new-ball partner Tony Palladino also making an immediate impact by getting rid of Matthew Boyce and Boeta Dippenaar, Leicestershire had lost their first four wickets with only four runs on the board.

A fifth wicket fell with the total on 24, before Paul Nixon and Jacques du Toit put together the one substantial partnership of the day.

It yielded 86 in 19 overs before Nixon dragged on against Palladino having made 57 from 90 balls with the help of nine fours and a six.

Fourteen of those runs came in an over against Pakistan leg spinner Danish Kaneria, who was making his first appearance of the summer.

The removal of Nixon led to the return of Masters, who picked up three more wickets in a five-over spell, including that of du Toit, who was trapped lbw for a 43 that contained half a dozen fours.

Palladino finished with three for 33 while Kaneria had the consolation of bringing the innings to a close by removing Garnett Kruger leg before.

Essex did not enjoy the best of starts to their reply, losing two wickets in the fourth over.

Jason Gallian edged a Dillon du Preez delivery and was caught behind while the next delivery saw Dippenaar accept a slip catch to get rid of Ravinder Bopara.

But it was paceman Nadeem Malik who really undermined Essex's reply with a spell of four wickets in 18 deliveries at a personal cost of one run.

That burst left Essex reeling at 61 for six and he later returned to claim another wicket to finish with figures of five for 33.

James Middlebrook, however, combined watchful defence with the occasional note of aggression and his disciplined approach has so far brought him 36 runs from 76 balls and left Essex thinking they may even gain a first-innings lead.