Leicestershire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

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 The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It b ...

in 1895. 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 The Royal London One-Day Cup is a fifty-over limited overs cricket competition for the England and Wales county cricket, first-class counties. It began in 2014 English cricket season, 2014 as a replacement for the ECB 40 tournament, which ran fr ...

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

and in the north group of the

. 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.

Honours

First XI honours

(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 The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds each ...

(1) – 2014 * Minor Counties Championship (1) – 1931 * Under-25 Competition(2) – 1975, 1985 + 1 Bain Hogg Trophy – second XI one-day competition – 1996

History

Earliest cricket

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 Cricket may not have reached the English counties of Leicestershire and Rutland until the 18th century. A notice in the ''Leicester Journal'' dated 17 August 1776 is the earliest known mention of cricket in the area. A few years later, a Leicester ...

was taking part in important matches, mainly against Nottingham Cricket Club and

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influenc ...

(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 first first-class match for both clubs. In 1895, the

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 England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

and

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

. Watson's run gathering sparked the home-grown

Maurice Hallam Maurice Raymond Hallam (10 September 1931 — 1 January 2000) was an English first-class cricketer for Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, Eng ...

into becoming one of England's best opening batsmen. In bowling, Leicestershire had an erratically successful group of seamers in

Terry Spencer Charles Terence Spencer (18 August 1931 – 2 February 2020) was an English first-class cricketer who played for Leicestershire. Only Ewart Astill and George Geary have taken more wickets for Leicestershire. His career best figures of 9-6 ...

Brian Boshier Brian Stanley Boshier (6 March 1932 – 2 September 2009) was an English cricketer who played first-class cricket for Leicestershire County Cricket Club between 1953 and 1964. Boshier, a very tall right arm seam bowler, took 510 wickets in his ...

, John Cotton and

Jack van Geloven Jack van Geloven (4 January 1934 – 21 August 2003) was an English first-class cricketer, who played three matches for Yorkshire County Cricket Club in 1955, and then joined Leicestershire on special registration for the 1956 season. He was a re ...

, 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 John Christopher Balderstone (16 November 1940 – 6 March 2000) was an English professional in cricket and football, and one of the last sportsmen to combine both sports over a prolonged period. He played football as a midfielder for Huddersfi ...

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. 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.

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.

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 Jack Birkenshaw, (born 13 November 1940) was an English cricketer, who later stood as an umpire and worked as a coach. Cricket commentator, Colin Bateman, stated "Jack Birkenshaw was the epitome of a good all-round county cricketer: a probing ...

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 Vincent John Wells (born 6 August 1965) is an English former professional cricketer. He played nine One Day Internationals for the England cricket team in 1999 and was a member of the squad for the 1999 Cricket World Cup The 1999 Cricket Wor ...

Jimmy Ormond James Ormond (born 20 August 1977) is an English former cricketer. He played two test matches for the England cricket team and in total made 137 first class appearances. Early life James grew up playing club cricket at Corley CC and establish ...

, Alan Mullally and Chris Lewis all had chances for

. 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 Twenty20 (T20) is a shortened game format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the county cricket, inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two teams have ...

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 World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Grounds

Current

* Grace Road, Leicester (1877 – present) * Oakham School, Oakham (2000 – present)

Bath Grounds The Bath Grounds is a historic recreational ground and cricket ground based in the town of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire. It is home to Ashby Hastings Cricket Club and Ashby Bowls Club. The grounds are subject to conservation area protect ...

, Ashby-de-la-Zouch (1912–1964) *

Kirkby Road Kirkby Road is a cricket ground in Barwell, Leicestershire. Cricket in Barwell dates to 1807, with cricket being played at Kirkby Road since at least 1913. First-class cricket has been played there three times in 1946 and 1947, with Leicester ...

, Barwell (1946–1947) *

Fox and Goose Ground The Fox and Goose Ground was a cricket ground in Coalville, Leicestershire. Linked with the nearby Fox & Goose public house (now demolished), the ground was used as an outground by Leicestershire in 1913 and 1914. First-class cricket was play ...

, Coalville (1913–1914) *

Town Ground, Coalville The Town Ground was a cricket ground in Coalville, Leicestershire. The ground was used as an outground by Leicestershire in 1950, with Leicestershire playing one first-class match there against Warwickshire in the County Championship. Despi ...

(1950) *

Snibston Colliery Ground 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 ...

, 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 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 ...

, Loughborough (1953–1965) *

College Ground, Loughborough The College Ground was a cricket ground based in the town of Loughborough, Leicestershire. Initially the ground was a playing field of the Loughborough Technical Institute, which was formed in 1909. First-class cricket was played at the grou ...

(1928–1929) *

Park Road, 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 Nottinghams ...

(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 In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the e ...

Former captains

International players

England * Jonathan Agnew * Ewart Astill *

* Nigel Briers * Stuart Broad * Michael Carberry * Nick Cook *

Eddie Dawson Edward William Dawson (13 February 1904 – 4 June 1979) was an English cricketer who played in five Test matches between 1928 and 1930. A batsman whose studious technique made use of his talent, Dawson excelled as a schoolboy for Eton College ...

* Phillip DeFreitas * George Geary * David Gower * Aftab Habib * Matthew Hoggard * Ken Higgs * Ray Illingworth * John King * Albert Knight * Barry Knight * Chris Lewis * Tony Lock * Darren Maddy * Devon Malcolm * Alan Mullally * Tom New * Paul Nixon *

* Charles Palmer *

Dick Pougher Arthur Dick Pougher (; 19 April 1865 – 20 May 1926) was an English professional cricketer and umpire who played for Leicestershire County Cricket Club from 1885 to 1901, and in one Test match for England in 1891–92. He was born at Humber ...

* Jeremy Snape * Peter Such * James Taylor * Les Taylor * Roger Tolchard * Willie Watson *

* James Whitaker * Peter Willey * Luke Wright Australia * Michael Bevan * Brad Hodge * Michael Kasprowicz * Andrew McDonald * Garth McKenzie * Mark Cosgrove Bangladesh * Shakib Al Hasan India * Anil Kumble * Virender Sehwag * RP Singh * Javagal Srinath * Varun Aaron New Zealand *

Stewie Dempster Charles Stewart Dempster (15 November 1903 – 14 February 1974) was a New Zealand Test cricketer and coach. As well as representing New Zealand, he also played for Wellington, Scotland, Leicestershire and Warwickshire. Early life Born to a Sco ...

Pakistan * Mohammad Asif * Shahid Afridi * Abdul Razzaq * Sohail Khan * Mohammad Abbas South Africa * HD Ackerman * Hansie Cronje * HH Dippenaar *

Claude Henderson Claude William Henderson (born 14 June 1972) is a South African former cricketer who bowled left-arm spin and played in seven Test matches and four One Day Internationals in 2001 to 2002. Domestic cricket Henderson played domestically for Bo ...

* Charl Langeveldt * Charl Willoughby West Indies * Winston Benjamin * Vasbert Drakes * Ottis Gibson * Jermaine Lawson * Andy Roberts * Ramnaresh Sarwan * Phil Simmons *

Jerome Taylor Jerome Everton Taylor (born 22 June 1984) is a Jamaican cricketer who has played as a fast bowler for the West Indies. Taylor eventually picked up 100 wickets for the Windies in both tests and odis. During 2017 he reversed an initial decision t ...

Zimbabwe * Neil Johnson Leicestershire CCC squad 2007

Records

Most first-class runs for Leicestershire
Qualification – 17,000 runs Most first-class wickets for Leicestershire
Qualification – 600 wickets Most first-team winners medals for Leicestershire * J. C. Balderstone – 6

Batting

* Highest team total: 756-4d v. Sussex, Hove, 2022 * Highest home team total: 638-8d v.

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...

, Grace Road, 1996 * Lowest team total: 25 v.

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, Leicester, 1912 * Highest total against: 761-6d by Essex, Chelmsford, 1990 * Lowest total against: 24 by Glamorgan, Leicester, 1971 * Highest individual score: 309* by HD Ackerman v. Glamorgan, Sophia Gardens, 2006. * Highest home individual score: 262 by Brad Hodge v. Durham, Grace Road, 2004 * Highest partnership: 477* by C. N. Ackermann and P. W. A. Mulder v. Sussex, Hove, 2022 Best partnership for each wicket (county championship) *1st – 390 B. Dudleston and J. F. Steele v. Derbyshire, Leicester, 1979 *2nd – 320 Hassan Azad and N. J. Dexter v. Gloucestershire, Leicester, 2019 *3rd – 316* W. Watson and A. Wharton v. Somerset, Taunton, 1961 *4th – 290* P. Willey and T. J. Boon v. Warwickshire, Leicester, 1984 *5th – 477* C. N. Ackermann and P. W. A. Mulder v. Sussex, Hove, 2022 *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 – 203* H. J Swindells and E. Barnes v. Somerset, Taunton, 2021 *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 in a season: 170 by Jack Walsh, 1948 *Best bowling figures in an innings: 10–18 by George Geary v. Glamorgan, Ynysangharad Park, Pontypridd, 1929 *Best bowling figures in a match: 16–96 by George Geary

Fielding

*Most dismissals in an innings: 7 by

Neil Burns Neil David Burns (born 19 September 1965) is a former English cricketer who played as a wicketkeeper/batsman at First-class and List A level for various clubs but spent the majority of his career at Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; pos ...

v. Somerset, Grace Road, 2001 *Most dismissals in a match: 10 by

Percy Corrall Percy "Paddy" Corrall (16 July 1906 – 23 February 1994) was an English first-class cricketer who played for Leicestershire between 1930 and 1951. He was born and died in Leicester, Leicestershire. Corrall was a lower-order right-handed batsma ...

v. Sussex, Hove, 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

External links

Leicestershire County Cricket Club – Official SiteFriends of Grace Road - Supporters' GroupThe Meet – Fan's SiteCricInfo Page

BBC Sport Page
{{Authority control English first-class cricket teams Sport in Leicester Cricket clubs established in 1879 History of Leicestershire 1879 establishments in England Cricket in Leicestershire