Leicestershire County Cricket Club
Leicestershire County Cricket Club: competitions
Leicestershire County Cricket Club: First-Class Cricket Competitions
Logo Tournament Wins YearsLeicestershire County Cricket Club: Limited Overs Cricket Competitions
Logo Tournament Wins Years
Royal London One-Day Cup
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Leicestershire County Cricket Club: Twenty20 Cricket Competitions
Logo Tournament Wins YearsLeicestershire County Cricket Club: an overview of the English cricket team
The Leicestershire County Cricket Club is one of the eighteen clubs representing the English County Championship. It is based at Uptonsteel County Ground. The team representing the OD contests is called the Leicester Foxes.
Initially, LCC had the status of a minor county in the championship, but in 1894 it was promoted and has not missed a single significant draw since then.
According to historical data, Leicester was introduced to cricket in 1776. Soon, the local club and the Rutland County Club were already participating in important matches. At first, their principal rivals were the cricket clubs of Nottingham and Marylebone. The first years as a whole were quite successful for LCC, but they were able to show themselves at the level of the county championship only a few decades later.
The first-class debut game between Essex and Leicester was in May 1894, and they were officially included in the list of permanent championship participants the following year. The first seventy years of the club’s existence cannot be called particularly successful – the Leicesterians were consistently in the middle of the standings and never reached the final of the competition. Everything changed towards the end of the 50s, when they managed to get the famous Willie Watson, whose career was already declining. He seriously impacted the rapid professional growth of local native Maurice Hallam, who soon became one of the best opening batsmen in England. In addition, during this period, a group of gifted bowlers came to the team – Terry Spencer, John Cotton and others. The restructuring of Leicester is completed with the arrival of Tony Lock, who becomes captain.
The golden age of LCC came in the 70s. One of the squad’s main stars during this period was Ray Illingworth, who previously played for Yorkshire. Leicester won their first important trophy – the Benson and Hedges Cup in 1972. The team took four more titles in five years, winning the County Championship for the first time in history (1975). One of the creators of the victory in the match over Derbyshire, Chris Balderstone, changed his football uniform after the game to participate in the match for the Doncaster Rovers. The next day he returned to Chesterfield and actively participated in the triumphant final. In the same season, LCC won the Benson & Hedges Cup for the second time.
Leicester took the Cup again in 1985, but in general, the decade was not as successful for them as the previous one. The club has reached the County Championship final only once, but ten years later, it won it twice – in 1996 and 1998. This achievement can be called all the more significant because the quality of the composition of the Leicester team was noticeably inferior to the rivals. Nevertheless, they achieved the desired result due to team cohesion and mutual understanding between the players. The main stars of Leicester during this period were Aftab Habib, Darren Maddy, Jimmy Ormond and others.
Although the noughties did not bring the team success in the championship, Leicester proved itself at the T20 level, winning three home tournaments from 2004 to 2011.
Leicestershire County Cricket Club: awards
| Awards | Winner | Finalist |
| County Championship | 3 | 2 |
| Sunday/National League | 2 | 2 |
| Gillette/NatWest/C&G/FP Trophy | – | 2 |
| Twenty20 Cup/Friends Life t20 | 3 | – |
| Benson & Hedges Cup | 3 | 2 |
Leicestershire County Cricket Club: records
- The highest number of runs for the Leicestershire County Cricket Club on account of Les Berry – 30143.
- The most effective bowler in the club’s history is Ewart Estill with a score of 2131.
- The maximum number of wickets in first-class matches for the season – 170 – was taken by Jack Walsh (1948).
Leicestershire County Cricket Club: club legends
Willie Watson is one of the creators of the team success of Leicestershire County Cricket Club in the 50s. He was the captain of the “fox” for a long time .
Ray Illingworth, under whom Leicester took the debut Cup of Benson and Hedges, which was the beginning of the first golden age in the history of the team.
Chris Balderstone is the only player to have played for a first-class football and cricket squad on the same day. He has collected the maximum number of trophies in the club in his entire career.
