Players report back for winter programme

Leicestershire County Cricket Club’s players reported back for the first phase of their winter training programme at the Fischer County Ground today.

The first few days will see the players undertake performance profiling before cricket assessment and circuits towards the end of the week.

County’s players will then be put through their paces both in the Mike Turner Cricket Centre and gym, with cricket practice running alongside speed and strength and conditioning work.

The majority of Leicestershire’s squad is currently playing abroad but a number of the professionals reported back at the Fischer County Ground.

They included new signings Gavin Griffiths (pictured completing one of the challenges) and Will Fazakerley, Richard Jones, Ben Raine, Charlie Shreck, Tom Wells, Neil Dexter and Zak Chappell. The octet will be joined by Academy trio Dave Sayer, Harry Swindells and Sam Evans.

In other Foxes related news, Sharjeel Khan recently gained his first test match call-up for Pakistan for their tour of New Zealand. The left-handed opening batsman will be playing for Leicestershire Foxes during the 2017 NatWest T20 Blast campaign.

Fellow recent signing Colin Ackermann has been in excellent form in first-class cricket for Warriors, including scores of 136 and 146 in consecutive games.

Angus Robson is enjoying a spell in club cricket for Melville CC in Perth where he is combining playing games, training and coaching.

Fellow opener Paul Horton is playing for Blacktown Warriors in the Sydney grade competition and Ned Eckersley is also in that part of the world.

Harry Dearden, Callum Parkinson and Aadil Ali are in Melbourne, James Sykes is in Adelaide, while Mark Cosgrove and Clint McKay are also at home and Mark Pettini will spend some time in Australia too.

Batsman Lewis Hill is part of an exciting new T20 style tournament in America - with matches played in Houston, Texas. Games are being split into quarters, with each teams having two innings of ten overs, with the aim of exciting a new audience in the States.

Hill is part of the Montgomery Sports Management squad that includes former Foxes all-rounder Abdul Razzaq and Raja Hayat, who plays for Kibworth. There are also five players from Northants including skipper Alex Wakely, Ben Sanderson, Rob Newton, Rob Keogh and Mohammad Azharullah.

Cameron Delport is playing for Hollywoodbets Dolphins (T20) and KwaZulu Natal in three-day competition in South Africa. The powerful left-handed batsman has also rejoined Lahore Qalandars in the Pakistan Super League for a second successive season after recently being brought in the auction.

Off-spinner Rob Sayer is in Wellington, New Zealand as part of the ECB’s Overseas Programme while Dieter Klein is playing in his native South Africa.

* Don’t miss a ball during the 2017 season! Leicestershire CCC’s Membership packages are now on sale through the club’s website HERE, or alternatively you can call 0116 283 2128.