Promotion-challenging Gloucestershire struck back in dramatic fashion after bottom-of-the-table Leicestershire decided against enforcing the follow-on in their LV County Championship Division Two clash at Grace Road.

With veteran seamer Andrew Harris claiming 5-26 – his first five-wicket haul for three years – the promotion-chasing visitors were dismissed for 138 to give Leicestershire a first-innings lead of 230.

Captain Boeta Dippenaar decided to bat again, however, only to see his side stumble to 33-5. By the close they had reached 49-5, but still looked to have the upper hand with a substantial lead of 279.

It ended a remarkable day on which 17 wickets fell for 223 runs.

Leicestershire, 332-8 overnight, lost their final two wickets for the addition of 36 runs, with James Taylor finishing on 83 not out off 152 balls with eight boundaries.

Steve Kirby took 4-78 and Jon Lewis 3-68 for Gloucestershire.

But they were completely overshadowed by an outstanding performance from 36-year-old Harris, who joined Leicestershire in the winter after being released by local rivals Nottinghamshire.

He took his wickets in two high-quality spells of bowling picking up his first three in 10 deliveries without a run being scored and then snapping up his final two again without conceding a run.

It gave him eye-catching figures of 5-26 in 12 overs.

Harris nipped out Kadeer Ali with a yorker, trapped Hamish Marshall lbw and then uprooted Gloucestershire CCC captain Alex Gidman's off-stump in a superb spell immediately after lunch.

It left the visitors in disarray and only a half-century from Chris Taylor gave their innings any substance at all.

He was finally bowled with a fine delivery from off-spinner Jigar Naik before Harris returned to plunge the visitors into further trouble.

He had Steve Adshead lbw playing across the line and bowled Ian Saxelby with another beauty.

But on a pitch of inconsistent bounce Leicestershire decided to bat again, only to run into trouble themselves as wickets crashed.

Kirby dismissed openers Paul Nixon and Greg Smith and Dippenaar chopped a delivery from Saxelby back into his stumps.

Then, to add to the home side's woes, occasional bowler Marshall picked up two late wickets, yorking Josh Cobb and trapping Tom New lbw in the last few overs before stumps.

Marshall had bowled only 23 overs and taken three wickets this season before his surprise evening spell, but Leicestershire will still fancy their chances of clinching their second win of the season on a pitch offering plenty of assistance to the bowlers.