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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 in the second divisions of both the County Championship and the Pro40 one day league. Although they have achieved a lot of success in the Twenty20 Cup in recent seasons and provided England with two players for the recent World Cup. HONOURS
Second XI honours
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, mainly against Nottingham Cricket Club and Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). 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 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 . 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. 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 . 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. Present Day Since winning two titles in three years, Leicestershire have slipped away dramatically from the top end of county cricket. In 2003 the side were relegated from both the county championship and the limited over competition and four years later still remain there having not realistically challenged for promotion from either, in any season. There are a number of reasons to why there has been such a decline in the performance of the club. The departure of so many talented cricketers at the same time has been the main reason. 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. The management of the club has also been heavily questioned. The recruitment policy in particular, the club currently has four Kolpak players at the club who have for the most part failed to put in anything other than ordinary performances. The overseas signings for the 2007 season were Mansoor Amjad, who while may have talent is only 19 and is far from the finished article, and RP Singh who only played two games for the club before being called up by India. At the same time several of the county's more promising players like Luke Wright , Christopher Liddle and Darren Stevens have all moved away from the club having not been given a proper chance. In 2006 Jeremy Snape was appointed county captain but his form during the season was so bad that he dropped himself. He remains captain for the 2007 season despite only being a bit part player. 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 foxes failed to reach the Twenty20 knock out stages for the first time in 2007. GROUNDS Current
Previous
PLAYERS AND OFFICIALS 2007 Leicestershire Squad Players who have represented Leicestershire in 2007. Players with international caps are listed in bold. Changes to the squad for the 2008 Season In: Out: Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire), David Masters (Essex), Darren Robinson, David Stiff. County Captains See Also: Category:Leicestershire cricket captains Notable Players See Also: Category:Leicestershire cricketers England
Australia India New Zealand Pakistan South Africa West Indies RECORDS Most first-class runs for Leicestershire Qualification - 18000 runs {Link without Title} Most first-class wickets for Leicestershire Qualification - 800 wickets {Link without Title} Batting
Best Partnership for each wicket (county championship)
Bowling
Fielding
LEICESTERSHIRE FACTS AND FEATS
REFERENCES
EXTERNAL LINKS
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