Leicestershire County Cricket Club

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
• One-Day Cup (1) – 2023
• Benson & Hedges Cup (3) – 1972, 1975, 1985 :Runners-up: 1974, 1998

Second XI honours

• Second XI Championship (2) – 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 – 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 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 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.

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.

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 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 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. In 2023 they won their first trophy for 12 years, beating Hampshire at Trent Bridge to lift the One Day Cup. In 2025, Leicestershire won Division Two of the County Championship to gain promotion back into the top tier of the competition after a 22-year absence.

Grounds

Main article: List of Leicestershire County Cricket Club grounds

Current

• Grace Road, Leicester (1877 – present)
• Oakham School, Oakham (2000 – present)
• Kibworth CC (2023 - 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.

Former captains

International players

England

• England Jonathan Agnew

• England Ewart Astill

• England Chris Balderstone

• England Jack Birkenshaw

• England Nigel Briers

• England Stuart Broad

• England Michael Carberry

• England Nick Cook

• England Eddie Dawson

• England Phillip DeFreitas

• England George Geary

• England David Gower

• England Aftab Habib

• England Matthew Hoggard

• England Ken Higgs

• England Josh Hull

• England Ray Illingworth

• England John King

• England Albert Knight

• England Barry Knight

• England Chris Lewis

• England Tony Lock

• England Darren Maddy

• England Devon Malcolm

• England Alan Mullally

• England Tom New

• England Paul Nixon

• England Jimmy Ormond

• England Charles Palmer

• England Dick Pougher

• England Jeremy Snape

• England Peter Such

• England James Taylor

• England Les Taylor

• England Roger Tolchard

• England Willie Watson

• England Vince Wells

• England James Whitaker

• England Peter Willey

• England Luke Wright

Australia

• AUS Michael Bevan
• AUS Brad Hodge
• AUS Michael Kasprowicz
• AUS Andrew McDonald
• AUS Garth McKenzie
• AUS Mark Cosgrove

Bangladesh

• Bangladesh Shakib Al Hasan

India

• IND Anil Kumble
• IND Virender Sehwag
• IND RP Singh
• IND Javagal Srinath
• IND Varun Aaron
• IND Ajinkya Rahane

New Zealand

• New Zealand Stewie Dempster

Pakistan

• Pakistan Mohammad Asif
• Pakistan Shahid Afridi
• Pakistan Abdul Razzaq
• Pakistan Sohail Khan
• Pakistan Mohammad Abbas

South Africa

• South Africa HD Ackerman
• South Africa Hansie Cronje
• South Africa HH Dippenaar
• South Africa Claude Henderson
• South Africa Charl Langeveldt
• South Africa Charl Willoughby

West Indies

• Antigua and Barbuda Winston Benjamin
• Barbados Vasbert Drakes
• Barbados Ottis Gibson
• Jamaica Jermaine Lawson
• Antigua and Barbuda Andy Roberts
• Guyana Ramnaresh Sarwan
• Trinidad and Tobago Phil Simmons
• Jamaica Jerome Taylor

Zimbabwe

• Zimbabwe Neil Johnson

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, Grace Road, 1996
• Lowest team total: 25 v. Kent, 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 – 239 L. P. J. Kimber and O. B. Cox v. Sussex, Hove, 2024
• 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 v. Somerset, Grace Road, 2001
• Most dismissals in a match: 10 by Percy Corrall 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

References

1. (1982). "A Guide to First-Class Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles". Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians.
2. "Queen of the South FC - Official website". Qosfc.com.
3. "One-Day Cup final: Leicestershire beat Hampshire for first List A triumph in 38 years". BBC Sport.
4. "Leics win Div Two title after washout against Kent". BBC Sport.
5. "The Home of CricketArchive". Cricketarchive.com.
6. "The Home of CricketArchive". Cricketarchive.com.