Leicestershire County Cricket Club
 | |
| One-day name: | Leicestershire Foxes |
|---|---|
| Second XI: | Leicestershire 2nd XI |
| Captain: |
 Mark Cosgrove |
| One-day captain: |
 Mark Pettini |
| Coach: |
Andrew McDonald |
| Overseas player(s): |
Clint McKay Umar Akmal Rilee Rossouw |
| Founded: | 25 February 1879 |
| Home ground: | Grace Road |
| Capacity: | 12,000 (expanding to 13000) |
| Chief executive: |
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 |
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
- County Championship (3) – 1975, 1996, 1998
- Runners-Up (2) – 1982, 1994
- Sunday/National League (2) – 1974, 1977
- Runners-up: 1972, 2001
- Gillette Cup/NatWest/C&G Trophy/Friends Provident Trophy
- Runners-up: 1992, 2001
- Twenty20 Cup/Friends Life t20 (3) – 2004, 2006, 2011
- Benson & Hedges Cup (3) – 1972, 1975, 1985
- Runners-up: 1974, 1998
Second XI honours
- Second XI Championship (1) - 1983, 2014
- Runners-up: 1961, 1975
- Second XI Trophy (5) -1993, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2014
- Second XI Twenty20 Cup (1) – 2014
- Minor Counties Championship (1) - 1931
- Under-25 Competition(2)-1975, 1985
+ 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
- Grace Road, Leicester (1877 – present)
- Oakham School, Oakham (2000 – present)
Previous
- Bath Grounds, Ashby-de-la-Zouch (1912–1964)
- Kirkby Road, Barwell (1946–1947)
- Fox and Goose Ground, Coalville (1913–1914)
- Town Ground, Coalville (1950)
- Snibston Colliery Ground, Coalville (1957–1982)
- Ashby Road, Hinckley (1911–1937)
- Coventry Road, Hinckley (1951–1964)
- Leicester Road, Hinckley (1981–1991)
- Aylestone Road, Leicester (1901–1962)
- Brush Ground, Loughborough (1953–1965)
- College Ground, Loughborough (1928–1929)
- Park Road, Loughborough (1913–1970)
- Egerton Park, Melton Mowbray (1946–1948)
Players
Current squad
- No. denotes the player's squad number, as worn on the back of their shirt.
-
denotes players with international caps. - * denotes a player who has been awarded a county cap.
| No. | Name | Nationality | Birth date | Batting Style | Bowling Style | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Batsmen | ||||||
| 2 | Paul Horton | England | 20 September 1982 | Right-handed | Right arm medium | Vice-captain (First-class cricket) |
| 6 | Mark Pettini | England | 7 August 1983 | Right-handed | Right arm medium | Captain (List A & T20 cricket) |
| 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 | Australia | 14 June 1984 | Left-handed | Right arm medium | Club captain (First-class cricket); UK passport |
| — | Rilee Rossouw | South Africa | 9 October 1989 | Left-handed | Right arm off break | Overseas player (T20 only) |
| All-rounders | ||||||
| 10 | Rob Taylor |  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 |  Ireland | 4 March 1984 | Right-handed | Right arm medium | List A & T20 cricket 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 | |
| 81 | Niall O'Brien | Ireland | 8 November 1981 | Left-handed | — | |
| 96 | Umar Akmal | Pakistan | 26 May 1990 | Right-handed | Right arm off break | Overseas player (T20 only) |
| 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 | Australia | 20 February 1983 | Right-handed | Right arm fast-medium | Overseas player; vice-captain (List A & T20 cricket) |
| 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 |
Records
|
Most first-class runs for Leicestershire
|
Most first-class wickets for Leicestershire
|
Most first team winners medal for Leicestershire
- J. C. Balderstone – 6
Batting
- Highest team total: 701-4d vs Worcestershire at New Road, Worcester in 1906.
- Highest home team total: 638-8d vs Worcestershire at Grace Road in 1996.
- Lowest team total: 25 vs Kent at Leicester in 1912
- Highest total against: 761-6d by Essex Chelmsford 1990
- Lowest total against: 24 by Glamorgan Leicester 1971
- Most runs: 30143 by George Berry
- Highest individual score: 309* by HD Ackerman vs Glamorgan at Sophia Gardens in 2006.
- Highest home individual score: 262 by Brad Hodge vs Durham at Grace Road in 2004.
- Highest partnership: 436* by Darren Maddy & Brad Hodge vs Loughborough UCCE at Grace Road in 2003.
Best partnership for each wicket (county championship)
- 1st – 390 B.Dudleston and J.F.Steele v Derbyshire Leicester 1979
- 2nd – 289* J.C.Balderstone and D.I.Gower v Essex Leicester 1981
- 3rd – 316* W.Watson and A.Wharton v Somerset Taunton 1961
- 4th – 290* P.Willey and T.J.Boon v Warwickshire Leicester 1984
- 5th – 322 B.F.Smith and P.V.Simmons v Nottinghamshire Worksop 1998
- 6th – 284 P.V.Simmons and P.A.Nixon v Durham Chester-le-Street 1996
- 7th – 219* J.D.R.Benson and P.Whitticase v Hampshire Bournemouth 1991
- 8th – 195 JWA Taylor and JKH Naik v Derbyshire Leicester 2009
- 9th – 160 R.T.Crawford and W.W.Odell v Worcestershire Leicester 1902
- 10th – 228 R.Illingworth and K.Higgs v Northamptonshire Leicester 1977
Bowling
- Most first-class wickets: 2131 by Ewart Astill
- Most first-class wickets in a season: 170 by Jack Walsh in 1948
- Best bowling figures in an innings: 10–18 by George Geary in 1929 against Glamorgan at Ynysangharad Park, Pontypridd.
- Best bowling figures in a match: 16–96 by George Geary in the same match.
Fielding
- Most dismissals in an innings: 7 by Neil Burns vs Somerset at Grace Road in 2001.
- Most dismissals in a match: 10 by Percy Corrall vs Sussex at Hove in 1936.
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
- ↑ ACS (1981). A Guide to Important Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles 1709 – 1863. Nottingham: ACS.
- ↑ ACS (1982). A Guide to First-Class Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles. Nottingham: ACS.
- ↑ Birley, p. 145.
- ↑ "List A events played by Leicestershire". CricketArchive. Retrieved 7 December 2015.
- ↑ "Twenty20 events played by Leicestershire". CricketArchive. Retrieved 7 December 2015.
- 1 2 3 "Queen of the South FC - Official website". Qosfc.com. Retrieved 4 May 2013.
- ↑ "The Home of CricketArchive". Cricketarchive.com. Retrieved 4 May 2013.
- ↑ "The Home of CricketArchive". Cricketarchive.com. Retrieved 4 May 2013.
Further reading
- H S Altham, A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914), George Allen & Unwin, 1962
- Derek Birley, A Social History of English Cricket, Aurum, 1999
- Rowland Bowen, Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development, Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1970
- Roy Webber, The Playfair Book of Cricket Records, Playfair Books, 1951
- Playfair Cricket Annual – various editions
- Wisden Cricketers' Almanack – various editions
External links
- Leicestershire County Cricket Club – Official Site
- The Meet – Fan's Site
- CricInfo Page
- Cricket Archive Page
- BBC Sport Page
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