Danish Kaneria returned his best figures for Essex as they forced Leicestershire to follow on in their LV County Championship clash at Chelmsford.

The Pakistan leg spinner claimed eight for 116 as the visitors, for whom James Taylor struck a magnificent unbeaten century, made 344 in reply to a 517 for nine declared.

And he was soon making a further impact when Leicestershire batted again, claiming another success as they closed on 42 for two, still 131 adrift.

Kaneria was soon weaving his magic after Leicestershire had resumed on their overnight score of 93 for two, picking up the three wickets to fall before lunch during an unchanged spell of 17 overs.

Among his victims in the opening session was Matthew Boyce, who was bowled for 70.

By then 19-year-old Taylor had settled in and was to provide the cornerstone of the innings with a combination of solid defence and a variety of attacking strokes.

Soon after tea he took four boundaries in an over from Ryan ten Doeschate to record his third century of the summer.

Leicestershire might have avoided the follow-on had James Benning not been forced to retire with an injury.

He had scored 36 of a 69 partnership with Taylor for the seventh wicket when a delivery from David Masters left him with a badly swollen cheekbone and required a trip to hospital.

Benning did not return at the fall of the ninth wicket leaving Taylor, who finished with 112, to earn handshakes and a pat on the back from most of the Essex players as he returned to the pavilion.

Among those to offer congratulations was Kaneria, whose performance signalled his 22nd haul of five wickets or more in an innings for Essex at Championship level - four of them this season.

When Leicestershire went in again they lost Paul Nixon in the fourth over as a diving James Foster pulled off a juggling catch to provide Chris Wright with his first success of the match.

Five overs later Kaneria was back in action and soon adding to his list of victims as he had Boyce snapped up at silly mid-off by Matt Walker.

It all left Leicestershire in serious trouble and needing something special on the final day to deny promotion-chasing Essex their fifth Championship victory of the campaign.