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One Day name | Leicestershire Foxes | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Personnel | ||||
Captain | Lewis Hill | |||
Coach | Paul Nixon | |||
Overseas player(s) | Peter Handscomb Wiaan Mulder Ajinkya Rahane Naseem Sha (T20) Naveen-ul-Haq (T20) | |||
Chief executive | Sean Jarvis | |||
Team information | ||||
Founded | 25 February 1879 | |||
Home ground | Grace Road, Leicester | |||
Capacity | 6,000 cricket matches / 19,999 concerts | |||
History | ||||
First-class debut | MCC in 1895 at Lord's | |||
Championship wins | 3 | |||
Pro40 wins | 2 | |||
FP Trophy wins | 0 | |||
Twenty20 Cup wins | 3 | |||
Benson & Hedges 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 first-class status pending its entry into the County Championship in 1895. [1] Since then, Leicestershire have played in every top-level domestic cricket competition in England.
The club is based at Grace Road, Leicester, known as Uptonsteel County Ground. and have also played home games at Aylestone Road in Leicester, at Hinckley, Loughborough, Melton Mowbray, Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Coalville, Uppingham and Oakham inside the traditional county boundaries.
In limited overs cricket, the kit colours are red with black trim in the Royal London One Day Cup 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 the north group of the Royal London One Day Cup. They recently finished bottom of the County Championship for the sixth 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.
+ 1 Bain Hogg Trophy – second XI one-day competition – 1996
Cricket may not have reached Leicestershire until well into the 18th century. A notice in the Leicester Journal dated 17 August 1776 is the earliest known mention of cricket in the county. Soon afterwards, 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.
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 first first-class match for both clubs. In 1895, the County Championship was restructured into a 14-team competition with the introduction of Essex, Leicestershire and Warwickshire CCC.
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.
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.
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. [2]
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. [2]
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. [2]
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.
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.
No. | Name | Nationality | Birth date | Batting style | Bowling style | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Batters | ||||||
1 | Sol Budinger | ![]() | 21 August 1999 | Left-handed | Right-arm off break | |
3 | Ajinkya Rahane ![]() | ![]() | 6 June 1988 | Right-handed | Right-arm medium | Overseas player |
17 | Louis Kimber | ![]() | 24 February 1997 | Right-handed | — | |
21 | Sam Evans | ![]() | 20 December 1997 | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | |
26 | Rishi Patel | ![]() | 26 July 1998 | Right-handed | Right-arm leg break | |
67 | Nick Welch | ![]() | 5 February 1998 | Right-handed | Right-arm leg break | UK passport |
All-rounders | ||||||
7 | Arron Lilley | ![]() | 1 April 1991 | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | White ball contract |
16 | Rehan Ahmed ![]() | ![]() | 13 August 2004 | Right-handed | Right-arm leg break | |
24 | Wiaan Mulder ![]() | ![]() | 19 February 1998 | Right-handed | Right-arm fast-medium | Overseas player |
48 | Colin Ackermann* ![]() | ![]() | 4 April 1991 | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | Captain (T20) |
55 | Scott Steel | ![]() | 20 April 1999 | Right-handed | Right-arm off break | |
88 | Tom Scriven | ![]() | 18 November 1998 | Right-handed | Right-arm fast-medium | |
Wicket-keepers | ||||||
23 | Lewis Hill* | ![]() | 5 October 1990 | Right-handed | — | Captain (LA) |
28 | Harry Swindells | ![]() | 21 February 1999 | Right-handed | — | |
54 | Peter Handscomb ![]() | ![]() | 26 April 1991 | Right-handed | — | Overseas player |
Bowlers | ||||||
4 | Michael Finan | ![]() | 11 August 1996 | Left-handed | Left-arm fast-medium | |
10 | Callum Parkinson | ![]() | 24 October 1996 | Left-handed | Slow left-arm orthodox | Club Captain |
18 | Matt Salisbury | ![]() | 18 April 1993 | Right-handed | Right-arm fast-medium | |
20 | Josh Hull | ![]() | 20 August 2004 | Left-handed | Left-arm fast-medium | |
31 | Chris Wright* | ![]() | 14 July 1985 | Right-handed | Right-arm fast-medium | |
44 | Will Davis | ![]() | 6 March 1996 | Right-handed | Right-arm fast-medium | |
49 | Roman Walker | ![]() | 6 August 2000 | Right-handed | Right-arm fast-medium | |
62 | Ed Barnes | ![]() | 26 November 1997 | Right-handed | Right-arm fast-medium | |
71 | Naseem Shah ![]() | ![]() | 15 February 2003 | Right-handed | Right-arm fast | Overseas player (T20 only) |
78 | Naveen-ul-Haq ![]() | ![]() | 23 September 1999 | Right-handed | Right-arm fast-medium | Overseas player (T20 only) |
England | Australia Bangladesh India New Zealand Pakistan | South Africa West Indies
Zimbabwe |
Most first-class runs for Leicestershire
| Most first-class wickets for Leicestershire
|
Most first-team winners medals for Leicestershire
Best partnership for each wicket (county championship)
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.
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Graham Frederick Cross is a former professional footballer and cricketer. He is the record appearance holder for Leicester City, making 599 appearances for the club in all competitions.
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Midlands 2 East (North) is a level 7 English Rugby Union league and level 2 of the Midlands League, made up of teams from the northern part of the East Midlands region including clubs from Derbyshire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and the occasional team from Leicestershire, with home and away matches played throughout the season. When this division began in 1992 it was known as Midlands East 1, until it was split into two regional divisions called Midlands 3 East (North) and Midlands 3 East (South) ahead of the 2000–01 season. Further restructuring of the Midlands leagues ahead of the 2009–10 season, led to the current name of Midlands 2 East (North).
Norman Michael McVicker was an English cricketer. Having failed to establish himself with either Lancashire or Derbyshire, where he had trialled, McVicker initially played county cricket at minor counties cricket level for Lincolnshire. His performances in minor counties cricket were noticed by Warwickshire, who signed him at the age of 28 in 1969. He played five seasons with Warwickshire, winning the 1972 County Championship and taking 300 first-class wickets. He was released by Warwickshire at the end of the 1973 season and subsequently played for Leicestershire for three seasons from 1974–1976, winning both the County Championship and Benson & Hedges Cup in 1975. He retired at the end of the 1976 season, but came out of retirement in 1977 to play one-day cricket for Leicestershire, before retiring again at the end of that season.
The Leicestershire Rugby Union (LRU) is the governing body for the sport of rugby union in the counties of Leicestershire and Rutland in England. The union is the constituent body of the Rugby Football Union (RFU) for those counties. The LRU administers and organises rugby union clubs and competitions in those two counties and administers the Leicestershire county rugby representative teams.