Fast bowler Conway delighted as he makes instant impact for Northants at Leicestershire

The Australian fast bowler was handed his County debut at Grace Road and bowled with pace and precision to claim five for 68 as the hosts were bowled out for 304 after being asked to bat.

Opener Rishi Patel hit a superb 105 to provide the backbone of the league leaders' innings, with key contributions down the order coming from Ben Green (39), Ben Cox (29) and Logan van Beek (28) as the Foxes recovered from collapsing to 119 for five and then 218 for seven.

Ben Sanderson was making his first appearance of the season after injury and was straight back in the groove, claiming three for 62 from 21 overs, while there were also wickets for Luke Procter and James Sales, who claimed the crucial scalp of Patel.

Northants saw off five overs at the end of the day to finish six without loss, and the match is evenly poised going into day three.

And Conway, who took particular pleasure in the dismissal of fellow Aussie Peter Handscomb, was just delighted to hit the ground running at the start of his four-match stint with Northants.

“It is always nice to make an impression early on," said tbhe 32-year-old.

"When you win the toss and bowl there is always a bit of expectation so to repay the faith in you on day one is really nice.

“I arrived on Tuesday, but I’d had a couple of nights’ sleep in Dubai en route so I’m pretty much over the jetlag, but once you get out there and bowl 22 overs it is a different story!

"It is a great dressing room and I’ve been made very welcome."

On the match situation, Conway admitted the green-tinged playing surface didn't quite play as they had expected after skipper Procter had won the toss and decided to bowl.

“It looked like a bowl first wicket, for sure, but it played better than we thought it would in that first two hours," admitted Conway, who plays for South Australia back home.

"We stuck at it all day and I think the more patient we were the more rewards we got.

“So it is shared honours, I think, after day one.

"Ideally they wouldn’t have got to 300 if you win the toss and bowl away from home but hats off to Leicester, they played brilliantly.

"We are going to have to bring our batting boots on Saturday and try to cash in ourselves.

"It was important for us not to lose wickets, which leaves it nicely balanced going into day two.”

Leicestershire opener Patel feels his side have the edge thanks to their late innings rally.

“I think we are in a really nice position," he said. "It was a great effort by the boys at the back end of the innings to get us up to 300 and we’ll see what kind of pitch it is on Saturday.

"The way we have bowled in the last month or so, if we go about things the right way we could be in an even better position by the close of day two."

On his century, Patel said: "I felt it was probably one of my better hundreds I’ve scored for Leicestershire, with the conditions they had in the morning.

"When you lose the toss and there is a bit of grass on the wicket, it is really pleasing to be able to contribute like I did.

“I’m a bit disappointed not to have gone on to make a bigger hundred. But it was tough out there with a lot of plays and misses, a lot of balls hitting my thigh pad and there were some really good spells of bowling.

“It didn’t really feel like the pitch changed that much through the day. There was always something there for the bowlers, even with the softer ball. In the circumstances, the runs that came late in the innings deserve even more applause.”

Play on day two is due to start at 11am.

Quotes courtesy of Jon Culley