Leicestershire County Cricket Club

Leicestershire County Cricket Club
One-day name: Leicestershire Foxes
Second XI: Leicestershire 2nd XI
Captain: Australia Mark Cosgrove
Coach: Australia Andrew McDonald
Overseas player(s): Australia Clint McKay
Pakistan Umar Akmal
Founded: 25 February 1879
Home ground: Grace Road
Capacity: 12,000 (expanding to 13000)
Chief executive: England Wasim Khan
First-class debut: MCC
in 1895
at Lord's
Championship wins: 3
Pro40 wins: 2
FP Trophy wins: 0
Twenty20 Cup wins: 3
Official website: LeicestershireCCC
Grace Road cricket ground,Leicester.
The pavilion end.
The Bennett Road end.

Leicestershire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Leicestershire. It has also been representative of the county of Rutland. The club's limited overs team is called the Leicestershire Foxes. Founded in 1879, the club had minor county status until 1894 when it was promoted to major status pending its entry into the County Championship in 1895. Leicestershire is classified as an unofficial first-class team by substantial sources in 1894;[1][2] classified as an official first-class team from 1895 by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and the County Championship clubs;[3] classified as a List A team since the beginning of limited overs cricket in 1963;[4] and classified as a major Twenty20 team since 2003.[5]

The club is based at Grace Road, Leicester and have also played home games at Aylestone Road in Leicester, at Hinckley, Loughborough, Melton Mowbray, Ashby-de-la-Zouch and in Coalville inside the traditional county boundaries; and at Uppingham and Oakham over the border in Rutland.

In limited overs cricket, the kit colours are red with black trim in the Clydesdale Bank 40 and black with red trim in the T20. The shirt sponsors are Oval Insurance Broking with Highcross Leicester (shopping centre) on the top reverse side of the shirt.

Leicestershire are in the second division of the County Championship and in Group C of the Pro40 one day league. They recently finished bottom of the County Championship for the first time since the introduction of two divisions. Their best showing in recent years has been in the Twenty20 Cup with the Foxes winning the trophy three times in eight years.

Honours

First XI honours

Runners-Up (2) – 1982, 1994
Runners-up: 1972, 2001
Runners-up: 1992, 2001
Runners-up: 1974, 1998

Second XI honours

Runners-up: 1961, 1975

+ 1 Bain Hogg Trophy – 2nd 11 one day competition – 1996

History

Earliest cricket

Cricket may not have reached the county until well into the 18th century. A notice in the Leicester Journal dated 17 August 1776 is the earliest known mention of cricket in Leicestershire.

But it was only a few years after that before a Leicestershire and Rutland Cricket Club was taking part in important matches, mainly against Nottingham Cricket Club and Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). This club was prominent from 1781 until the beginning of the 19th century.

19th century

Little more is heard of Leicestershire cricket until the formation of the present club on 25 March 1879.

Essex CCC versus Leicestershire CCC at Leyton on 14, 15 & 16 May 1894 was the initial first-class match played by either club. In 1895, the County Championship was restructured into a 14-team competition with the introduction of Essex, Leicestershire and Warwickshire CCC.

Early and mid 20th century

Leicestershire's first 70 years were largely spent in lower table mediocrity, with few notable exceptions. In 1953, the motivation of secretary-captain Charles Palmer lifted the side fleetingly to third place, but most of the rest of the 1950s was spent propping up the table, or thereabouts.

Start of improvement: The late 1950s and the 1960s

Change came in the late 1950s with the recruitment of the charismatic Willie Watson at the end of a distinguished career with England and Yorkshire. Watson's run gathering sparked the home-grown Maurice Hallam into becoming one of England's best opening batsmen. In bowling, Leicestershire had an erratically successful group of seamers in Terry Spencer, Brian Boshier, John Cotton and Jack van Geloven, plus the spin of John Savage.

Another change was in the captaincy: Tony Lock, the former England and Surrey spinner who had galvanised Western Australia.

The 1970s and the first golden era

Ray Illingworth, again from Yorkshire, instilled self-belief to the extent that the county took its first ever trophy in 1972, the Benson & Hedges Cup with Chris Balderstone man of the match. This was start of the first golden era as the first of five trophies in five years and included Leicestershire's first ever County Championship title in 1975. A couple of runners up spots were also thrown in.[6]

The game when Leicestershire won their first ever County Championship, on 15 September 1975, marked something of a personal triumph for Chris Balderstone. Batting on 51 not out against Derbyshire at Chesterfield, after close of play he changed into his football kit to play for Doncaster Rovers in an evening match 30 miles away (a 1–1 draw with Brentford). Thus he is the only player to have played League Football and first class cricket on the same day. He then returned to Chesterfield to complete a century the following morning and take three wickets to wrap up the title. To add to that season's success for Leicestershire was a second Benson & Hedges victory.[6]

The 1980s

A runners up spot in the 1982 County Championship brought some respectability, but the decade's only first class silverware was in the 1985 Benson & Hedges Cup with Balderstone still on board making him the most successful trophy winner in the club's history with six.[6]

Success in the late 1990s

Leicestershire won the county championship in 1996, and again in 1998. This was an amazing achievement considering the resources of the club compared to other county teams. This Leicestershire side, led by Jack Birkenshaw and James Whitaker, used team spirit and togetherness to get the best out of a group of players who were either discarded from other counties or brought through the Leicestershire ranks.

This team did not have many stars, but Aftab Habib, Darren Maddy, Vince Wells, Jimmy Ormond, Alan Mullally and Chris Lewis all had chances for England. West Indian all-rounder Phil Simmons was also named as one of Wisden's Cricketers of the year in 1997 while playing for the club.

2000 and beyond: Twenty20 success and four-day struggles

The advent of Twenty20 cricket saw Leicestershire find a new source of success, winning the domestic T20 competition in 2004, 2006 and 2011. However, in the era of two-division County Championship cricket they have found success more difficult to come by, having not played in the top division since 2003 and been regular "wooden spoon" contenders. In 2013 and 2014 they finished without a single Championship win, the first team to achieve this unwanted feat in back to back seasons since Northamptonshire just before World War II.

Grounds

Current

Previous

Players

For more details on this topic, see List of Leicestershire CCC players.

Current squad

No. Name Nat Birth date Batting Style Bowling Style Notes
Batsmen
2 Paul Horton  England 20 September 1982 Right-handed Right arm medium
6 Mark Pettini  England 7 August 1983 Right-handed Right arm medium
8 Angus Robson  Australia 19 February 1992 Right-handed Right arm leg break British passport
14 Aadil Ali  England 29 December 1994 Right-handed Right arm off break
55 Mark Cosgrove double-dagger  Australia 14 June 1984 Left-handed Right arm medium Club captain; British passport
All-rounders
10 Rob Taylor double-dagger  Scotland 21 December 1989 Left-handed Left arm medium
17 Neil Dexter  England 21 August 1984 Right-handed Right arm medium
19 Tom Wells  England 15 March 1993 Right-handed Right arm medium-fast
31 Kevin O'Brien double-dagger  Ireland 4 March 1984 Right-handed Right arm medium One-day Only
35 Wayne White  England 22 September 1985 Right-handed Right arm fast-medium
44 Ben Raine  England 14 September 1991 Left-handed Right arm medium-fast
Wicket-keepers
20 Michael Burgess  England 8 July 1994 Right-handed —
23 Lewis Hill  England 5 October 1990 Right-handed —
33 Ned Eckersley  England 9 August 1989 Right-handed Right arm off break Vice-captain
81 Niall O'Brien double-dagger  Ireland 8 November 1981 Left-handed —
96 Umar Akmal double-dagger  Pakistan 26 May 1990 Right-handed Right arm off break Overseas player
Bowlers
3 Atif Sheikh  England 18 February 1991 Right-handed Left arm medium-fast
4 Charlie Shreck  England 6 January 1978 Right-handed Right arm fast-medium
12 Rob Sayer  England 25 January 1995 Right-handed Right arm off break
22 Jigar Naik  England 10 August 1984 Right-handed Right arm off break
24 Ollie Freckingham  England 12 November 1988 Right-handed Right arm medium-fast
27 Clint McKay double-dagger  Australia 20 February 1983 Right-handed Right arm fast-medium Overseas player
32 Zak Chappell  England 21 January 1996 Right-handed Right arm fast-medium
80 James Sykes  England 26 April 1992 Left-handed Slow left-arm orthodox

Former captains

International players

England

Australia

Bangladesh

India

New Zealand

Pakistan

South Africa

West Indies

Members of the current squad warming up

Records

Most first-class runs for Leicestershire
Qualification – 17000 runs[7]

PlayerRuns
Les Berry 30143
Maurice Hallam 23662
John King 22618
Cecil Wood 21872
Ewart Astill 19879
Norman Armstrong 19001
Nigel Briers 18726
Maurice Tompkin 18590
Brian Davison 18537
Albert Knight 18142
Chris Balderstone 17627
Samuel Coe 17367

Most first-class wickets for Leicestershire
Qualification – 600 wickets[8]

PlayerWickets
Ewart Astill 2131
George Geary 1759
Terry Spencer 1320
Jack Walsh 1127
John King 1100
Haydon Smith 1076
Vic Jackson 930
Jack Birkenshaw 908
John Savage 816
William Odell 650
Jonathan Agnew 632

Most first team winners medal for Leicestershire

Batting

Best partnership for each wicket (county championship)

Bowling

Fielding

Sub Academy

The Leicestershire Sub Academy is designed for young cricketers who have potential to play at the highest level. It is also called the EPP (Emerging Player Programme). Many players who are involved in this set up move on to the LCCC academy, where they will play matches against academies from other counties.

References

  1. ↑ ACS (1981). A Guide to Important Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles 1709 – 1863. Nottingham: ACS.
  2. ↑ ACS (1982). A Guide to First-Class Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles. Nottingham: ACS.
  3. ↑ Birley, p. 145.
  4. ↑ "List A events played by Leicestershire". CricketArchive. Retrieved 7 December 2015.
  5. ↑ "Twenty20 events played by Leicestershire". CricketArchive. Retrieved 7 December 2015.
  6. 1 2 3 "Queen of the South FC - Official website". Qosfc.com. Retrieved 4 May 2013.
  7. ↑ "The Home of CricketArchive". Cricketarchive.com. Retrieved 4 May 2013.
  8. ↑ "The Home of CricketArchive". Cricketarchive.com. Retrieved 4 May 2013.

Further reading

External links

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