NIALL O'BRIEN led the way in an impressive start to the county championship by the Leicestershire keeper/batsman.

Although out of favour with the gloves in the Irish ranks, the Dubliner pouched nine catches in their drawn clash with Glamorgan.

He also made an unbeaten 70 as Leicestershire followed up Glamorgan's total of 513 with 435 as the Foxes earned a draw.

Ed Joyce skippered Sussex to a winning start as they beat Hampshire by 92 runs in their Division One encounter.

The left-hander hit 42 and 14, and chipped in with four catches and a run out in an impressive fielding effort.

Tim Murtagh and Paul Stirling played for Middlesex at Lords against Nottinghamshire. I

ndeed, Murtagh's second innings unbeaten 18 from 54 balls helped salvage a draw after being outplayed for most of the four days. He chipped in with 19 in the first innings as well.

Both Murtagh and Stirling were wicketless in the first innings, but Murtagh claimed 3 for 69, dismissing Zimbabwean Brendan Taylor, Alex Hales and Rikki Wessels.

Stirling took 1/66, capturing English international James Taylor. It wasn't a game to remember with the bat for Stirling, who made 11 and 0 in his two visits to the crease.

In pre-season friendly action, Gary Wilson scored a brilliant 119 not out which included 19 fours and a six for Surrey against Oxford MCCU.

He shared a 203 run stand with Kevin Pietersen (170).

William Porterfield was also amongst the runs for Warwickshire in their game against Durham MCCU.

The Irish skipper followed up his first innings 59 with a rapid 93 from just 87 balls (12 fours, 1 six) as the Bears opted for batting practice rather than forcing a win in their second innings.