Leicestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 member clubs of the English County Championship, representing the historic county of Leicestershire. The club was established on 25 March 1879. [1] It has since played first-class cricket from 1894, List A cricket from 1963 and Twenty20 cricket from 2003. [2] [3] [4] [A] Unlike most professional sports, in which a team usually has a single fixed home ground, county cricket clubs have traditionally used different grounds in various towns and cities within the county for home matches, although the use of minor "out grounds" has diminished since the 1980s. [5] [6] Leicestershire's first XI have played home matches at fifteen different grounds.
The club's debut home match in first-class cricket was played at Grace Road in Leicester. After the 1900 season, the club ceased using Grace Road, [7] as it was felt that it was located too far from the centre of the city. [8] Instead, Aylestone Road became the club's headquarters, and staged nearly 400 first-class matches between 1901 and the outbreak of the Second World War. [9] Due to a combination of wartime damage and industrial development, however, the club was forced to discontinue using Aylestone Road after the war, and Grace Road once again became the club's main venue. [8] In the years after the war, the county also utilised grounds in other towns including Hinckley, Melton Mowbray, Barwell and Loughborough.
In addition to the county's inaugural first-class match, Grace Road also played host to Leicestershire's first home games in the other formats of cricket. In 1964 it staged the county's first home List A game against Northamptonshire and in 2003 it was the venue for the county's first home game in Twenty20 cricket against Yorkshire. The ground has hosted the vast majority of the county's games, including every Twenty20 match since the introduction of that format. Since 1991, when the club played its last game at Leicester Road in Hinckley, the only venue other than Grace Road to host any of Leicestershire's matches is the Oakham School Ground, which is actually located in the adjacent county of Rutland. [10] The school was used for five first-class matches from 2000–07 and nine List A games from 2001–08, followed by a further List A game in 2018 after an absence of ten years.
Below is a complete list of grounds used by Leicestershire County Cricket Club for first-class, List A and Twenty20 matches. Statistics are complete through to the end of the 2020 season. Only matches played by Leicestershire CCC at the grounds are recorded in the table. Matches abandoned without any play occurring are not included.
Name | Location | First-class | List A | Twenty20 | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
First | Last | Matches | First | Last | Matches | First | Last | Matches | ||
Grace Road [11] | Leicester | 17 May 1894 v Yorkshire | 22 August 2020 v Nottinghamshire | 845 [7] | 27 May 1964 v Northamptonshire | 6 May 2019 v Warwickshire | 508 [12] | 16 June 2003 v Yorkshire | 18 September 2020 v Nottinghamshire | 108 [13] |
Aylestone Road [14] | Leicester | 13 May 1901 v Surrey | 16 June 1962 v Cambridge University | 399 [9] | – | – | 0 | – | – | 0 |
Ashby Road [15] | Hinckley | 19 August 1911 v Warwickshire | 17 July 1937 v Worcestershire | 19 [16] | – | – | 0 | – | – | 0 |
Bath Grounds [17] | Ashby-de-la-Zouch | 20 June 1912 v Derbyshire | 6 June 1964 v Derbyshire | 43 [18] | – | – | 0 | – | – | 0 |
Park Road [19] | Loughborough | 31 May 1913 v Nottinghamshire | 9 August 1952 v Kent | 15 [20] | 2 August 1970 v Nottinghamshire | no other matches to date | 1 [21] | – | – | 0 |
Fox and Goose Ground [22] | Coalville | 12 June 1913 v Worcestershire | 11 July 1914 v Worcestershire | 2 [23] | – | – | 0 | – | – | 0 |
College Ground [24] | Loughborough | 13 June 1928 v Derbyshire | 6 July 1929 v Glamorgan | 2 [25] | – | – | 0 | – | – | 0 |
Oakham School Ground [26] | Oakham | 31 August 1935 v Kent | 30 May 2007 v Nottinghamshire | 9 [27] | 3 June 2001 v Lancashire | 31 May 2018 v Nottinghamshire | 10 [28] | – | – | 0 |
Egerton Park [29] | Melton Mowbray | 1 June 1946 v Somerset | 29 May 1948 v Kent | 3 [30] | – | – | 0 | – | – | 0 |
Kirkby Road [31] | Barwell | 19 June 1946 v Lancashire | 25 June 1947 v Worcestershire | 3 [32] | – | – | 0 [B] | – | – | 0 |
Town Ground [33] | Coalville | 10 June 1950 v Warwickshire | no other matches to date | 1 [34] | – | – | 0 | – | – | 0 |
Coventry Road [35] | Hinckley | 23 June 1951 v Middlesex | 22 July 1964 v Kent | 17 [36] | – | – | 0 | – | – | 0 |
Brush Ground [37] | Loughborough | 16 May 1953 v Hampshire | 19 June 1965 v Middlesex | 16 [38] | – | – | 0 | – | – | 0 |
Snibston Colliery Ground [39] | Coalville | 5 June 1957 v Glamorgan | 10 July 1982 v Derbyshire | 8 [40] | 12 July 1970 v Glamorgan | no other matches to date | 1 [41] | – | – | 0 |
Leicester Road [42] | Hinckley | 29 July 1981 v Nottinghamshire | 2 July 1991 v Gloucestershire | 11 [43] | 3 June 1984 v Essex | no other matches to date | 1 [44] [B] | – | – | 0 |
A. ^ First-class cricket matches are designed to be contested over multiple days, with each team permitted two innings with no limit to the number of overs in an innings. [45] List A matches, also known as limited overs or one-day matches, are intended to be completed in a single day and restrict each team to a single innings of between 40 and 60 overs, depending on the specific competition. [46] Twenty20 matches restrict each team to a single innings of 20 overs. [47]
B. ^ The Leicestershire Cricket Board team played one List A match at each of Kirkby Road and Leicester Road in 2001. [48] The Leicestershire Cricket Board is a separate organisation from Leicestershire County Cricket Club and its matches are not included in the totals.
Leicestershire is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warwickshire to the south-west, and Staffordshire to the west. The city of Leicester is the largest settlement and the county town.
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. Since then, Leicestershire have played in every top-level domestic cricket competition in England.
Gloucestershire 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 Gloucestershire. Founded in 1870, Gloucestershire has always been first-class and has played in every top-level domestic cricket competition in England. The club played its first senior match in 1870 and W. G. Grace was their captain. The club plays home games at the Bristol County Ground in the Bishopston area of north Bristol. A number of games are also played at the Cheltenham Cricket Festival at the College Ground, Cheltenham and matches have also been played at the Gloucester cricket festival at The King's School, Gloucester.
Grace Road, known for sponsorship reasons as the Uptonsteel County Ground, Grace Road, is a cricket ground in Leicester, England. It is the home ground and administrative base of Leicestershire County Cricket Club.
Barwell Football Club is a football club based in Barwell, near Hinckley in Leicestershire, England. They are currently members of the Southern League Premier Division Central and play at Kirkby Road.
The Leicestershire Senior League is a football competition based in Leicestershire, England.
The Fox and Goose Ground was a cricket ground in Coalville, Leicestershire. Linked with the nearby Fox & Goose public house, the ground was used as an outground by Leicestershire in 1913 and 1914. First-class cricket was played at the ground twice, with Leicestershire playing against Worcestershire in the 1913 and 1914 County Championship's, with Leicestershire winning both matches. Following the First World War, Leicestershire did not return to the ground. Cricket is no longer played at the ground, which is still in use as a recreation ground and is now known as Scotlands Playing Fields.
Snibston Colliery Ground was a cricket ground in Coalville, Leicestershire. The land for the cricket ground was originally set aside for the miners at Snibston Colliery. Snibston Colliery was used as an outground by Leicestershire following the Second World War, with the county first playing there against Glamorgan in 1957 County Championship. Leicestershire player there intermittently until 1982, playing eight first-class matches there, plus a single List A one-day match against Glamorgan in the 1970 John Player League. The loss of first-class cricket at Snibston Colliery coincided with a downturn in fortune of the colliery. Snibston Grange Cricket Club continued to play at and maintain the ground, with Coalville Town F.C. moving to part of the ground in 1995 and establishing their Owen Street Sports Ground there. The cricket club folded in 2013, leaving Coalville Town F.C. as the sole tenant of the site.
The Leicester Road Ground is a cricket ground based in the town of Hinckley, Leicestershire. It has, in the past, been used by Leicestershire as an outground and has held 11 first class games in total. The first game took place in 1981 against Nottinghamshire and the last in 1991 against Gloucestershire.
The Brush Ground was a cricket ground in Loughborough, Leicestershire. Owned by the Brush Electrical Machines Company and used by the company cricket team, it was used as an outground by Leicestershire. They first played there in a first-class match against Hampshire in the 1953 County Championship. Leicestershire played there at least once a year until 1965, playing sixteen first-class matches. The ground was later purchased by Leicestershire County Council in 2017, with the ground redeveloped for residential purposes. The sports club moved to new premises three–times the size Nanpantan Road in Loughborough.
Park Road is a cricket ground in Loughborough, Leicestershire. Established along with the formation of Loughborough Town Cricket Club in 1896, the ground first played host to first-class cricket in 1913, when Leicestershire played Nottinghamshire in the County Championship. Leicestershire played at the ground eitherside of the First World War, but did not return until 1933. Leicestershire regularly used Park Road as an outground throughout the 1930s, before the Second World War brought about the suspension of county cricket. Leicestershire resumed playing there after the war and used the ground until 1952, having played fifteen first-class matches there since their first match at the ground in 1913. Leicestershire returned to Park Road 18 years later, playing a List A one-day match there against Nottinghamshire in the 1970 John Player League. The ground is still in use by Loughborough Town Cricket Club.
Aylestone Road, now also known as the Leicester Electricity Sports Cricket Ground, is a cricket ground in Leicester, England, which was the headquarters of Leicestershire County Cricket Club from 1901 to 1939. Although the playing area is much reduced by housing and commercial developments, it is still used as a cricket ground, though not by the county team.
Joshua James Cobb is an English cricket player. He is a top order batsmen and occasional off-spinner. He was man of the match in the 2011 and 2016 Twenty20 finals.
The Leicestershire Women's cricket team, officially the Leicestershire and Rutland Women's cricket team since 2010, is the women's representative cricket team for the English historic counties of Leicestershire and Rutland. They play their home games at various grounds across the two counties, often in Loughborough, Leicester or Empingham. They are captained by Rebecca Brooker. In 2019, they played in Division Three of the final season of the Women's County Championship, and have since competed in the Women's Twenty20 Cup. They are partnered with the East Midlands regional side The Blaze.
Roy James Barratt was an English cricketer who appeared in 70 first-class matches for Leicestershire between 1961 and 1970.
Whitwick White Cross F.C. was an English football club from Whitwick in Leicestershire.
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.