Leicestershire
FOLLOW US ONLINE TWITTER.COM/CRICKETCLUBMAG
Leicestershire
CRICKET CLUB
C
ricket in Leicestershire
has a rich history and
plays a big part in every
community. The earliest
mention of cricket in Leicester is
a notice in the Leicester Journal in
1776. Since then there have been more
mentions and interest in the sport,
with framework knitters leading the
way with its popularity where they
were able to work hours to fit around
playing a game in the afternoons.
In the 1780s St Margaret’s pasture in
Melton Mowbray was the first regular
home of local cricket in
the area.
Then in 1807 Barwell started the first
continuous fixture between themselves
and Coventry and North Warwickshire,
a fixture that has never been missed to
this day.
After being officially founded in
1879, Leicestershire’s first-class debut
was against the MCC in 1895 at Lord’s.
But they played against Essex CCC
the year before at Leyton, making it
the initial first-class match played by
either club. Since then they have been
part of the county championship with
varied form for the first seventy years,
propping up the table during the
1950s, before blasting
back onto the
scene in the
1970s
and winning several trophies, including
the Benson and Hedges Cup, the
Sunday/National League and the
County Championships. They have also
been prominent in the Twenty20 Cup,
winning three times since 2004.
Based at Grace Road in Leicester,
the club have also played right across
Leicestershire and the county of
Rutland. The grounds they have used
in the past include Aylestone Road in
Leicester, Hinckley, Loughborough,
Melton Mowbray, Ashby-de-la-Zouch
and Coalville (Leicestershire) and
Uppingham and Oakham (Rutland).
Currently Leicestershire play at Grace
Road and have done since 1877 and
Oakham School in Oakham since 2000.
Like other counties, Leicestershire
has had a number of international
players recruited into their side, not
only from the England side (examples
such as Stuart Broad, Jonathan Agnew,
Matthew Hoggard and Paul Nixon)
but also from South Africa (HH
Dippenaar and Hansie Cronje),
Australia (Brad Hodge and
Michael Kasprowicz) and the
West Indies (Ramnaresh
Sarwen).
And
like
other
counties,
they
have
an
academy
for
youngsters who show
a definitive promise
to be able to play at
the highest level,
Leicestershire Club Info - www.leicestershireccc.co.uk - Twitter : @leicsccc- Founded 1879
26 Issue 39