Leicestershire are batting first against Australia, and finally it's starting to feel like an Ashes tour. It seems utterly mad that we are this far into the English summer, and not only has the England-Australia series not yet begun, but we're only getting the first three-day tour match today.

Interesting to see that the Cricket Australia live scorecard is ahead of that of the Press Association outlets - at least at the time of writing (Leicestershire 27/1 on the first morning).

It will also be interesting to see how New South Wales all-rounder Jason Krejza goes for Leicestershire.

The Leicestershire v Australia tradition began in 1893 with a two-day match at Grace Road dominated by Harry Trott, who scored 100 and took eleven wickets.

The first first-class match between the two came in 1896, with Leicestershire narrowing avoiding a big innings defeat after Australian captain George Giffen took 14 wickets for the match.

It's worth keeping an eye on the Leicestershire CCC website over the next three days. They're putting a lot of effort into promotion for this game. Saturday is Fancy Dress day. Wow!