McDonald demands strong finish

Planning is well underway for 2016 but Head Coach Andrew McDonald is focussed firmly on the present as Leicestershire face back-to-back LV=County Championship matches to finish the 2015 season.

The team landed an impressive win against Derbyshire and could easily have followed that up with victories at Northamptonshire and at home to Gloucestershire had the weather not intervened.

Further progress has been made off the field with a number of key players committing their futures to the club and the signings of Wayne White, Neil Dexter and Paul Horton, who add considerable experience to the squad.

McDonald is delighted that his side have started to show consistency and now wants two more big performances to ensure that the feel-good factor continues into the winter programme, starting against Essex tomorrow (10.30am start).

“It’s a big coup for the club to have signed Neil and Paul this week,” said McDonald. “It’s nice to have players of their experience, leadership capabilities and skillsets. They are both going to really compliment the group that we have here.

“The skillsets they will offer in all three formats of the game is massive and we’ve lacked a bit of seniority in the batting line-up. We feel as though a bit more experience is needed alongside our talented young batsmen and Neil and Paul will add that, along with Mark Cosgrove and Niall O’Brien.

“It was a shame that the weather had so much of a say against Gloucestershire but the players went about the four days well. There have been three consistent performances in a row and we were driving the game again, which was pleasing. It was another positive step forward for the group.

“The two guys who came into the side, Rob Taylor and Dan Redfern, performed well. Dan took his opportunity well and at the selection table, it’s always nice to know that you have depth.

“It’s then been about freshening the players up so that they are ready to hit these last two games running. We go into every game trying to win and the games against Essex and Derbyshire will be no different.

“We set ourselves a target of winning two of the last three games so after the weather had the final say against Gloucestershire, we’re now putting ourselves under a bit of pressure to win the last two. It’s important that we look at these games as the start of our journey rather than the end of the season.”

Leicestershire have suffered both a boost and a blow ahead of the game as Charlie Shreck returns after a hamstring injury but Clint McKay will not be available after returning to Australia to be part of Cricket Victoria's pre-season training camp. Lewis Hill and Tom Wells are also part of the 13-man squad.

Two men are on the verge of batting milestones as Angus Robson (971) could move to 1,000 runs in first-class cricket for a second consecutive season while Mark Cosgrove needs 68 more runs to move into four figures.

Ben Raine made a half-century against Gloucestershire and has now scored more than 500 first-class runs to go with his 50 wickets, and O'Brien has claimed 50 LV=County Championship dismissals this season.

Essex also come into the game in good form after an emphatic victory at Derbyshire where all of their bowlers, including young trio Jamie Porter, Tom Moore and Jack Winslade, chipped in with wickets.

Leicestershire (from): Cosgrove (capt), O’Brien (w/k), Ali, Eckersley, Hill, Raine, Redfern, Robson, Sayer, Shreck, Taylor, Wells, White.