There were no heroics from Leicestershire at Grace Road yesterday, just a good deal of sound, sensible play with bat and ball.

That enabled them to build a position of dominance at the halfway stage of the game against Gloucestershire, who were dismissed in the first half of the day for 159, conceding a substantial lead of 136.

By stumps, County had added considerably to that as they closed on 147-1, having established a lead of 283.

Greg Smith led the way with an unbeaten 70, his best in the Championship this season, but there was also excellent support from Matthew Boyce and Jacques du Toit, whose fine run of form continued.

Boyce was the only man to fall in the 45 overs Leicestershire faced in the afternoon and evening sessions. But, when he miscued a pull off James Franklin and was caught a deep mid-wicket, the left-hander had already contributed 36 to an opening stand of 69 with Smith, precisely the kind of start Leicestershire required as they set about batting Gloucestershire out of the game.

There were precious few scares after Boyce's departure, either, Smith playing with calm assurance and running aggressively to maximise whatever opportunities came the batsmen's way. At the close he had faced 144 balls in compiling his 70, which also included seven fours.

Du Toit also got his head down to reach 34 not out, the second-wicket stand extending to a useful 78 as the shadows lengthened in the closing hour.

The game had been evenly poised at the start of the second day, which was delayed by mist and damp conditions with the subsequent loss of four overs.

County probably just held a slight edge but, as Gloucestershire resumed on 54-2, Leicestershire needed to make early inroads if they were to capitalise on their opening-day's work.

The success was far from instant, however, and it took nine overs of graft before Matthew Hoggard engineered the crucial breakthrough, having Jon Batty caught behind by Tom New for 29.

Having reduced Gloucestershire to 81-3, the County attack proceeded to squeeze the life out of their opponents' first innings, with Claude Henderson performing an admirable role.

Though Nathan Buck, with 3-47, was the most successful bowler in terms of wickets taken, it was Henderson around whom the bowling revolved. He finished having bagged 2-17 after sending down 18 overs with barely a loose delivery in that space of time.

Nadeem Malik weighed in with two critical strikes in the final over before lunch as he removed Hamish Marshall, for an excellent 61, and then Chris Taylor, while the off-spin of Jigar Naik took care of Ed Young and Anthony Ireland – the latter falling to an excellent tumbling catch at long on by Hoggard.

It was job done – and very well, too – as far as the Leicestershire bowling unit were concerned and over to the batsmen to set about cementing the position.

The men at the top of the order did not disappoint and went about that task with great efficiency, enabling County to strengthen their grip on the match as they search for a sixth win this season, which could just about keep alive their hopes of snatching promotion.