Raine ready for Kent encounter

A matchday guide for our members and supporters planning to travel to Kent is HERE

It’s been a good week for Leicestershire CCC all-rounder Ben Raine, who is looking forward to taking on Kent in the LV=County Championship this weekend.

Raine signed a two-year contract extension ahead of the Northamptonshire match and celebrated by taking a career-best 4-55 as well as scoring 47 important runs in the first innings.

The 23-year-old was only too pleased to commit his future to the club in the build-up to the game and is enjoying the working environment at Grace Road.

He said: “It is nice to play your cricket knowing that people are backing you and the club is in a good place with Wasim Khan as Chief Executive and Andrew McDonald as Head Coach.

“It is an environment where players will develop and we will only get better as a team as the season goes on. There were moments in both the Glamorgan and Northants games where we were on top but we also know that we can improve.

“In the first game I have never seen wind like that on a cricket pitch and it was just one of those situations where you had to find answers and a different way of doing things. It was a credit to ourselves that we fought back so hard on a flat pitch.

“We have showed good spirit so far and I thought we did well to get ourselves into a position where we were slight favourites going into the final day of the game.

“We had an excellent first day against Northants but we knew there was still a lot of cricket in the game and we were very disappointed to lose. But we have looked back at the performance and are now focusing on the Kent game.”

Raine expects another tough challenge in Sunday’s game at Canterbury (11am) but said the team is ready. The competition for places is creating a healthy environment and Raine knows he has to maintain his level of performance to stay in the side.

He said: “We know that Kent will be a well-drilled outfit and they have plenty of experienced players in their ranks. We had two good games with them last season so we know what to expect.

“It’s been nice to be part of the team so far and having different roles. A couple of years ago I was opening the batting and if somebody told me then I’d go on to open the bowling in county cricket, I’d have laughed at them.

“’ve worked hard on my game and it’s now flipped around a little bit. It was nice to be given the new ball against Glamorgan and I also enjoyed bowling first change against Northants. It’s about doing whatever I can to help the team win. It was also nice to get a few runs and Clint (McKay) batted well too.

“There have been a few tough selection decisions and that will continue to be the case with lads performing in the Seconds, so all of the players are looking to contribute as much as they can to the team. It’s a good place for the squad to be in.”

Raine is part of a 14-man squad for the trip to Canterbury and Matthew Boyce, Rob Taylor, Lewis Hill and Jigar Naik are all included after impressing in the Second XI this week. There is one enforced change to the travelling party as Niall O’Brien is on international duty with Ireland.

Leics (from): Robson, Redfern, Eckersley, Cosgrove, Pinner, Boyce, Hill, Taylor, Wells, Raine, Naik, McKay, Freckingham, Shreck.