County start with mouthwatering derby

* Don’t miss a ball during the 2017 season! Leicestershire CCC’s Membership packages are now on sale HERE or call 0116 283 2128 from 9am.

Leicestershire County Cricket Club begin their Specsavers County Championship campaign with a mouthwatering East Midlands derby against Nottinghamshire on Friday, April 7.

The Foxes start their season on Tuesday March 28 with a three-day match at home to Loughborough University and the first away game is against Gloucestershire on Friday April 14.

Nottinghamshire and Gloucestershire are two of the five teams that Leicestershire face twice in the Specsavers County Championship alongside Kent, Sussex and Northants, with the trip to Wantage Road being the first the club has played under floodlights with a pink Dukes ball.

There are also home games against Glamorgan and Durham, and away fixtures at Derbyshire and Worcestershire.

Leicestershire open both white ball campaigns at Lancashire, with the Royal London One-Day Cup game at Emirates Old Trafford taking place on Friday, April 28. The opposition remains the same in the Royal London One-Day Cup but venues are reversed in 2017 so the Foxes host Worcestershire Rapids, Warwickshire, Northants Steelbacks and Derbyshire Falcons.

NatWest T20 Blast is being played in a block in 2017 with the Foxes starting with a trip to tackle Lancashire Lightning on Sunday, July 9, the first of four successive away games.

Holders Northants Steelbacks provide the Foxes first home opposition on Friday, July 21, while 2016 runners-up Durham Jets arrive at the FCG the following Friday (July 28).

Other home matches are against Birmingham Bears (Tuesday, July 25), Notts Outlaws (Wednesday, August 2), Lancashire Lightning (Friday, August 4), Yorkshire Vikings (Saturday, August 12) and Derbyshire Falcons (Thursday, August 17).

The 2017 tourist fixtures are pencilled in at this stage. A T20 spectacular against South Africa will take place on Sunday, June 18 if the tourists do not reach the ICC Champions Trophy Final. It means that if South Africa do progress in the ICC Champions Trophy, this T20 game will not take place against Leicestershire.

West Indies could arrive at the Fischer County Ground for a two-day tourist game starting on Saturday, September 2 if the Foxes do not qualify for NatWest T20 Blast Finals Day.

There are two trips to outgrounds in 2017: the picturesque Arundel to play Sussex in the Specsavers County Championship and a Royal London One-Day Cup trip to Welbeck to face Notts Outlaws.

* A full list of Leicestershire's 2017 fixtures is available HERE