Six Pillar Update | Cricket | Claude Henderson
Tue 7 May 2024
Each month, one of Leicestershire's six pillar leads will provide an update on their respective area of the Club. This month, Director of Cricket, Claude Henderson provides an insight into the fortunes of the Foxes' Men, Women, and Academy sides at the start of the new season.
Since my time in the UK, I can’t remember a colder and wetter April than what we’ve experienced this year. With the demanding schedule starting from the start of pre-season, a huge thank you must go to all our ground staff for getting the ground and practice facilities ready in time!
Women & Girls:
Since our Women & Girls moved to the cricket pillar last October, we have been looking at areas where we can improve our W&G cricket. Like our boys’ pathway, we have recognised the value in creating more opportunities whilst offering quality coaching.
Considering that our current structure is still very much at amateur level, we are aiming to get Tier 2 status (semi-professional) by 2025. This will allow more funding for growth and development towards our Women & Girls structure, and ultimately get plans in place to get to Tier 1 status (professional) by 2029.
It was great to see our Women & Girls playing double headers at Uptonsteel County Ground last season. So far, we have two double headers this year, with the first one vs Nottinghamshire on the 14th of June.
Our Women & Girls have started the new season well, with a great innings of 145 by captain Rebecca Brooker helping the side to a 203-run win in the opening game at Cambridgeshire. Also, congratulations to Prisha Thanawala for making The Blaze’s matchday squad.
A huge thank you to Heather Beattie who oversees our W/G operations, and all the coaches and staff supporting W&G cricket at LCCC. May we keep growing and develop the ideal environment for our Women & Girls cricketers to reach their full potential.
Pathway & Academy:
Under the leadership with Jigar Naik, we have seen Rehan Ahmed, Josh Hull, and now Sam Wood coming through the ranks. It’s fundamental to LCCC that we keep finding and developing our own talent who can end up playing in our First Team.
Our Pathway played the most cricket of any other pathway in the country last season. This, combined with the quality coaches we have in our pathway, is the ideal recipe for developing future First Team cricketers.
The Academy had a very successful winter tour to the UAE, where they were tested under pressure and playing outside. Jay Madan ended up scoring four hundreds out of the five games on tour, one to watch out for.
Whilst the Academy was away, Jamie Dunk represented Scotland in the Under 19 World Cup. He ended up being the fourth highest run scorer in the WC, so another one to keep our eyes on.
At the start of the season, we have already seen numerous Academy players in our second team, and a superb win for the U18s away at Notts. A huge thank you needs to go to Jigar and his team for the great work they are doing, developing those next First team players for LCCC.
Leicestershire Men:
Considering the success we witnessed last season, together with the new coaching structure under Alfonso Thomas and the new additions to the team, there has been a real positive vibe amongst the squad.
It feels like the season has barely started yet we are already well into May with five Championship games behind us. We have seen some good individual performances from numerous players.
It was great to see Ben Mike doing well with some solid performances vs his old club Yorkshire. Being one of our pathway products, it’s great to see him back at LCCC. There’s more depth in the batting line up, and the bowlers have stood up well so far, considering the absence of Chris Wright.
Our overseas players are fundamental to LCCC, not only offering our members and fans quality cricket, but also developing and guiding our own players. Pete Handscomb has been welcomed back with open arms. He’s a very popular member of the squad and has showed good signs with the bat, especially the hundred at Lord’s against his old club.
Whilst Wiaan Mulder is on international duties, we are also very fortunate to have Marcus Harris back, showing his class with the double hundred vs Derbyshire.
A huge thank you goes to our Head Coach Alfonso Thomas, creating and leading a healthy and positive environment alongside captain Lewis Hill and the support staff.
Our Head of Sports Science & Medicine, Ryan Smith, will be leaving the club in the middle of this month. Whilst we want to thank Ryan for all his contributions to our Sports Science & Medicine department, we would like to congratulate Lloyd Hanley- Byron, who will step up from the Second Team, to take up the head position on an interim basis.
Our Second Team environment, under the leadership of Dips Patel, is fundamental to make sure we keep feeding the First Team with in-form, hungry and fit players. This is probably the most challenging environment, as you have a mixture of the youth from our Academy, trialists and players missing out on First Team selection. As mentioned, it is great to see a handful of our Academy players in our Seconds.
All in all, our cricket is in a healthy place. Heading into June, with the Vitality Blast just around the corner, we are focussed on continuing our rich history of T20 success. A huge thank you to all our members and fans for your support! I am sure you are as excited as me, looking forward to the rest of the season.
