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Leicestershire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket 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 in 1895.[1] Since then, Leicestershire have played in every top-level domestic cricket competition in England.

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.

In limited overs cricket, the kit colours are red with black trim in the Clydesdale Bank 40 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 County Championship and in Group C of the Pro40 one day league. 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.

You can bet your life Grace Road will not be looking like that this week, get the feeling this will be a rain sodden draw to end the 2019 season which will mean we will go through the season unbeaten.
No news yet from the ever up to date website as to team news, the last throws of the summer are now upon us.

[themaclad]

Lancashire 2 for 1 trail Leicestershire 155 (Gleeson 6-43) by 153 runs

Matt Parkinson took two wickets, including that of his twin brother Callum, to mark his first England call-up as Division Two champions Lancashire bowled Leicestershire out for just 155.

Parkinson has been named in both the Test and T20 parties to travel to New Zealand ahead of the series this winter, and dismissed his twin for the first time in a first XI game to press home Lancashire's advantage.

Seamer Richard Gleeson, arguably one of Lancashire's unsung heroes this season, picked up first-class best figures of 6 for 43, which means Gleeson now has 44 Championship wickets in nine matches played, at an average of less than 22. Only Graham Onions, rested for this game, has more, with 45 in ten matches played.

Having exercised the away team's prerogative to bowl first, Lancashire's reward was almost immediate, as Foxes' captain Paul Horton, one of several former Lancashire players now with Leicestershire edged his first delivery from Gleeson straight to Keaton Jennings at first slip.

Fellow opener Hassan Azad had made nine, passing 1100 Championship runs for the season in the process, before he pushed a low catch back to bowler Gleeson, and the former Northants seamer struck for the third time when Colin Ackermann edged low to Liam Livingstone at second slip, reducing the Foxes to 16 for 3.

Gleeson should have had a fourth victim when George Rhodes, driving, edged to fourth slip before he had scored, but Rob Jones could not hold the head-high chance. Instead it was Tom Bailey, in the tenth over of an impressive opening spell, who picked up his first wicket when Mark Cosgrove tried to cut a wide but in-swinging delivery and succeeded only in edging the ball into his stumps.

Rhodes saw Leicestershire through to lunch without further loss, but was bowled through the gate by Gleeson in the first over after the interval. Harry Swindells also lost his off-stump to the same bowler soon afterwards, to reduce the Foxes to 82 for 6.

Harry Dearden and Callum Parkinson added 36 for the sixth wicket, but Dearden, on 30, also went bowled, driving outside a delivery from Matt Parkinson that spun back to hit the stumps, and shortly before tea Ben Mike was caught by Parkinson off the top edge at backward square off Livingstone.

Parkinson pinned his twin leg before shortly after tea before Gleeson bowled Dieter Klein to finish the innings.

Leicestershire did hit back. Chris Wright bowled Jennings with an inswinger that took the inside edge of the bat and hit leg stump - Jennings was also out first ball in the single innings he played against Leicestershire at Aigburth earlier in the season - but bad light and rain then saw play end with 24 overs remaining to be bowled.

[themaclad]

Specsavers County Championship Division Two, Fischer County Ground, Grace Road (day three):
Leicestershire 155 & 40-0: Horton 30*
Lancashire 170: Croft 44, Hurt 38; Mike 3-41
Leicestershire (3 pts) lead Lancashire (3 pts) by 25 runs

Bottom-of-the-table Leicestershire edged ahead of Division Two champions Lancashire as the game drifted towards a draw on a rain-hit day at Grace Road.

Following a washout on day two, play only started after lunch on day three.

Lancashire finally resumed on 2-1, in reply to 155, but slipped to 94-7 as Ben Mike removed three of the top five.

However, Steven Croft (44) and Liam Hurt (38) saw Lancs post 170 for a lead of 15, which was wiped out as the hosts reached 40 without loss at the close.

The Lancashire pair put on 60 for the eight wicket to get the visitors to within one run of Leicestershire's total.

When all-rounder Croft became Dieter Klein's third victim (3-61) thanks to a dazzling slip catch by Paul Horton, Matthew Parkinson came to the crease and was soon dismissed by twin brother Callum.

It was sweet revenge for the former, and a scorecard repeat of the first innings when Callum was out lbw to new England call-up Matthew.

After Hurt was the last man out, Leicestershire captain Horton scored a rapid unbeaten 30 of 28 balls to give the hosts a 25-run lead heading into the fourth and final day.

[themaclad]

Leicestershire 155 (Gleeson 6-43) and 191 for 3 dec (Azad 83*, Gleeson 3-57) drew with Lancashire 170

Hassan Azad, with an unbeaten 83, finished as top run scorer in Division Two as the match between Leicestershire and Lancashire ended in a draw at the Fischer County Ground.

Damp areas on the outfield meant play began an hour late, meaning the game had already lost 173 overs to the weather before Leicestershire resumed their second innings on their overnight score of 40 for 1, a lead of 25.

The Foxes immediately lost captain Paul Horton, who had yet to add to his overnight 30 when he was comprehensively cleaned up by a Richard Gleeson delivery which removed both off and middle stumps.

With Azad playing an anchor role, Colin Ackermann came in and went for his shots, hitting eight fours in going to 37 from 47 balls at the interval, but his dismissal for 49, and that of Mark Cosgrove for just two soon afterwards, both edging Gleeson behind the wicket, signalled the end of any likelihood of Leicestershire declaring and offering Lancashire a late run chase.

Azad passed 50 for the eighth time this season, and was closing in on what would have been his fourth hundred and 1,200 runs for the Championship season - he finished with 1,189 - when the rain returned. Gleeson, who picked up six wickets in Leicestershire's first innings, finished with nine wickets in the match and 47 in the season.