Leicestershire County Cricket Club

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Leicestershire
Established	1879
First-Class Debut	v MCC at Lord's on May 6, 1895
Captain	Jeremy Snape
Coach	Tim Boon
County Titles	3

Grace Road cricket ground,Leicester.

The pavilion end.

The Bennett Road end.

Leicestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Leicestershire. It has also been representative of the county of Rutland. Its limited overs team is called the Leicestershire Foxes.

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.

Leicestershire are currently (2006) the Twenty20 Cup holders after beating Nottinghamshire in a tense final at Trent Bridge. But the club is in the second divisions of both the County Championship and the Pro40 one day league.

1 Honours
- 1.1 Second XI honours
2 Earliest cricket
3 19th century
4 20th century
5 Grounds
6 Players and Officials
7 Records
8 References
9 External links

[edit] Honours

County Championship (3) - 1975, 1996, 1998
Gillette/NatWest/C&G Trophy (0) -
Sunday/National League (2) - 1974, 1977
Twenty20 Cup (2) - 2004, 2006
Benson & Hedges Cup (3) - 1972, 1975, 1985

[edit] Second XI honours

Second XI Championship (1) - 1983; shared (0) -
Second XI Trophy (0) -
Minor Counties Championship (1) - 1931; shared (0) -

[edit] 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, some of which are now recognised as first-class by the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. This club was prominent from 1781 until the beginning of the 19th century.

For information about Leicestershire county teams before the formation of Leicestershire CCC, see : Leicestershire and Rutland Cricket Club

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] A change in fortunes: The 60s and 70s

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.

However, the change that finally brought success was in the captaincy: first Tony Lock, the former England and Surrey spinner who had galvanised Western Australia, took the team to the unprecedented position of runners-up in the Championship; then his successor, Ray Illingworth, again from Yorkshire, instilled self-belief to the extent that the county took its first title in 1975.

[edit] The late 90s

Leicestershire again won the county championship in 1996, and again in 1998 - 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 signed from other counties or brought through the Leicestershire ranks.

This team didn't 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.

[edit] Present Day

The double championship-winning team is now a thing of the past and Leicestershire currently find themselves in the bottom divisions of both cricket leagues. Many feel it would be unfair to blame the decline on the management of the club - it was more due to an excellent generation of players all leaving at the same time, and Leicestershire have been unable to replace them. There were a variety of reasons why players left: some went for money; some went to further their international careers; and others retired from the sport. The replacements, especially in the seam bowler department, have struggled to match their predecessors.

There has been significant success through the Twenty20 Cup in recent years; however, some see that as little consolation when the team is doing poorly in the main competition. The appointment of Tim Boon in 2006 has brought signs of change and there does seem to be light at the end of the tunnel. Young cricketers like Stuart Broad, Tom New and Paul Harrison are starting to make an impression and it may only be a matter of time before Leicestershire start competiting for trophies in the more established competitions.

[edit] Grounds

[edit] Players and Officials

[edit] 2007 Leicestershire Squad

Players with international caps are listed in bold.

No.	Name	Batting Style	Bowling Style	Notes
Batsmen
	HD Ackerman	RHB		Kolpak signing.
	Matthew Boyce	LHB	RM
	Paul Harrison	RHB		Occasional Wicketkeeper
	John Maunders	LHB	RM
	Darren Robinson	RHB
	Marc Rosenberg	RHB	RM	English citizenship
	John Sadler	LHB
	James Allenby	LHB	RM
All-rounders
	Mansoor Amjad	RHB	LBG	Overseas player
	Jeremy Snape	RHB	OS	Captain.
Wicket-keepers
	Tom New	LHB
	Paul Nixon	LHB
Bowlers
	Stuart Broad	RHB	RFM
	Ryan Cummins	RHB	RFM
	Harry Gurney	LHB	RFM
	Claude Henderson	RHB	SLA	Kolpak signing.
	David Masters	RHB	RM
	Jigar Naik	RHB	OS
	Daniel Rowe	RHB	RFM
	RP Singh	RHB	LFM	Overseas player
	David Stiff	LHB	RFM
	Nicholas Walker	RHB	RFM

[edit] County Captains

A complete list of Leicestershire captains

[edit] Famous Players

[edit] Records

[edit] 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.
Most runs: 30143 by George Berry
Most individual score: 309* by HD Ackerman vs Worcestershire at Sophia Gardens, Glamorgan 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.

[edit] Bowling

Most wickets: 2131 by Ewart Astill
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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] References

A Social History of English Cricket by Derek Birley
Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians - various publications
Cricket: History of its Growth and Development by Rowland Bowen
Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket by G B Buckley (FL18)
Fresh Light on Pre-Victorian Cricket by G B Buckley (FLPV)
From the Weald to the World by Peter Wynne-Thomas (PWT)
Hamlyn A-Z of Cricket Records by Peter Wynne-Thomas
Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 by Arthur Haygarth (SBnnn)
Start of Play by David Underdown
The Cricketer magazine (Cktr)
The Dawn of Cricket by H T Waghorn (WDC)
Playfair Cricket Annual: various issues
The Cricketer magazine: various issues
Wisden Cricketers Almanack (annual): various issues

[edit] External links

English first-class cricket clubs

MCC | Cambridge UCCE | Durham UCCE | Loughborough UCCE | Oxford UCCE

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