Leicestershire County Cricket Club

[Fathead1981]

100 all out at least we made 3 figures......

 

[Stinkenzo]

Just looking around the games going on.. does anybody like to bat anymore? Barely any respectable batting scores so far

[Fathead1981]

2 minutes ago, Walkers said:

Just looking around the games going on.. does anybody like to bat anymore? Barely any respectable batting scores so far

Just wait for Warwickshire to bat......

 

[Cake]

Pathetic. This lad opening the bowling is no better than a Saturday Club bowler. Had better than this playing 2s all year.

[Sunbury Fox]

This is going to be another embarrassing defeat. 

[Cake]

This over is unbelievable 4 4 4 others he couldn't reach. The last one was a wide beamer,.........

[Guest MattP]

This is embarrassing. 

[123dm]

Arshad seems like a decent bowler. Got really unlucky with the misfields and edges. Sayer on the other hand... agree, looks like a club bowler. All over the place

[Silebyfox_89]

Feel a radical approach is needed to get LCCC back to being a competitive county side, we can't keep the current cycle of losing our better players to other teams like Notts. Personally think we need to move out of grace road and move somewhere accessible to get more people through the gates.

[harpendenfox]

50 minutes ago, Silebyfox_89 said:

Feel a radical approach is needed to get LCCC back to being a competitive county side, we can't keep the current cycle of losing our better players to other teams like Notts. Personally think we need to move out of grace road and move somewhere accessible to get more people through the gates.

I agree with you in that radical thinking may be needed, but the current location is in the heart of a heavily populated area, and we still struggle to get people through the gates. A few hundred for County games, around 3000 for T20 games, somewhat less for 50 over games. Of course our lack of success for several years doesn't help, but we know the city and county are into sport. It always frustrates me that a greater percentage of the 30k or so who attend City, and 25k or so who support Tigers, don't come to cricket. 

 

Is there a location you have in mind that you think would work better? It's an interesting idea

[Voll Blau]

1 hour ago, Silebyfox_89 said:

Feel a radical approach is needed to get LCCC back to being a competitive county side, we can't keep the current cycle of losing our better players to other teams like Notts. Personally think we need to move out of grace road and move somewhere accessible to get more people through the gates.

 

Where is more accessible though? An out of town ground would be even worse, all I ever see is people slating Southampton for being miles from the centre. Just need a bit of innovation (put on buses from the railway station and bigger towns in the county maybe?)

 

That said, a new ground on the land next to the football ground would've been pretty cool, but I guess that's not gonna happen.

[Mark 'expert' Lawrenson]

The ECB have created the divide between the haves and the have nots, it’ll only get worse when the new 100 ball competition starts, that being said Essex and Worcester have shown that it’s possible for “smaller” counties to have success, we need our academy to be bringing through a number of good players to build a proper team unit not one every 5 years or so. 

[Guest MattP]

To be honest I'm not sure Grace Road could be in a better position, right need the centre with plenty of bus routes to and from it. You need a decent team if you want to get people along. I wouldn't go today if it was free and everything was on expenses.

I don't think it would be a bad idea to take games around the county though, just to see what turnout you would get.

[Mark 'expert' Lawrenson]

2 minutes ago, MattP said:

To be honest I'm not sure Grace Road could be in a better position, right need the centre with plenty of bus routes to and from it. You need a decent team if you want to get people along. I wouldn't go today if it was free and everything was on expenses.

I don't think it would be a bad idea to take games around the county though, just to see what turnout you would get.

Agreed, success on the field is the only way to increase attendances, but it’s difficult when the few good players we do get are enticed away by other counties.

[Voll Blau]

1 hour ago, MattP said:

To be honest I'm not sure Grace Road could be in a better position, right need the centre with plenty of bus routes to and from it. You need a decent team if you want to get people along. I wouldn't go today if it was free and everything was on expenses.

I don't think it would be a bad idea to take games around the county though, just to see what turnout you would get.

I think the problem is for all counties that, sadly, it's not cost effective to use out-grounds apart from some exceptions like Scarborough etc which basically have the infrastructure to be a First Class ground in their own right anyway. A fair few club grounds and grouchy old groundsmen simply aren't willing to bow to county games taking precedence over their own in terms of pitch preparation and so on. For example, I know Harborough was due to take on quite a few 2nd XI games a few years ago, but they started having doubts after County started making demands about who would be running the show at the ground. The final straw was when they found out Kibworth had turned County down after being asked first (of course, Kibworth have since started hosting some games). Now we're in the absurd situation where we don't even play all of our home twos/academy games in Leicestershire, with some being played at Desborough.

 

Back to the original point though, it'd be great to see County out on the road if they could come to some agreement with the clubs - like you say it's worth a shot if they can make it work financially.

[Silebyfox_89]

1 hour ago, Voll Blau said:

 

Where is more accessible though? An out of town ground would be even worse, all I ever see is people slating Southampton for being miles from the centre. Just need a bit of innovation (put on buses from the railway station and bigger towns in the county maybe?)

 

That said, a new ground on the land next to the football ground would've been pretty cool, but I guess that's not gonna happen.

Personally think the saffron lane stadium would be a better option with regards to accessibility, car parking and size. However this would require money for investment, partnerships with the council/owners of the land + planning with locals etc... Plus money has already invested in grace road to try and improve it, however when i go i feel its still far behind the majority of other grounds. its an eyesore to look at and feels it would need an major overhaul to be an attractive preposition for players to come to or international teams to tour at.

[Ted Maul]

I love Grace Road's location, but let's be honest it's not the biggest and we rarely fill it anyway. Years of absolute dross has had a big effect on our fanbase- I remember it being pretty full when we were successful in the early years of T20.

 

I've often thought that splashing out on a huge overseas signing from India could have a knock-on effect on our support. Indians love their cricket and we have a huge population in the city that we've never really managed to get through the gates. A high profile signing might attract a good number of new fans, which in turn could get us moving forward and enable us to keep our better players.

[everton carr]

Very much disagree about GR being an eyesore most people myself inc consider we have one of the nicest grounds  in County cricket take it your not been to Essex Sussex Derby or Northants. Regarding test sides they have no say on what tour games they play but I know Australia   Have said in the past we have the best nets in the Country a view shared by many which was why they set up there training camp at Leicester before the 2009 Ashes series

[everton carr]

38 minutes ago, Ted Maul said:

I love Grace Road's location, but let's be honest it's not the biggest and we rarely fill it anyway. Years of absolute dross has had a big effect on our fanbase- I remember it being pretty full when we were successful in the early years of T20.

 

I've often thought that splashing out on a huge overseas signing from India could have a knock-on effect on our support. Indians love their cricket and we have a huge population in the city that we've never really managed to get through the gates. A high profile signing might attract a good number of new fans, which in turn could get us moving forward and enable us to keep our better players.

We have had Srinath Schwag and Kumble playing for us in the last 20 years all greats of Indian Cricket and didn't attract any new fanbase

[Voll Blau]

1 hour ago, Ted Maul said:

I love Grace Road's location, but let's be honest it's not the biggest and we rarely fill it anyway. Years of absolute dross has had a big effect on our fanbase- I remember it being pretty full when we were successful in the early years of T20.

 

I've often thought that splashing out on a huge overseas signing from India could have a knock-on effect on our support. Indians love their cricket and we have a huge population in the city that we've never really managed to get through the gates. A high profile signing might attract a good number of new fans, which in turn could get us moving forward and enable us to keep our better players.

 

It's been tried before with Kumble, Sehwag etc and didn't really work then if I remember correctly?

[Ted Maul]

33 minutes ago, everton carr said:

We have had Srinath Schwag and Kumble playing for us in the last 20 years all greats of Indian Cricket and didn't attract any new fanbase

 

32 minutes ago, Voll Blau said:

 

It's been tried before with Kumble, Sehwag etc and didn't really work then if I remember correctly?

Yeah, very true. I'm out of ideas then 

[everton carr]

According to Richard Rae Ned Eckersley will be leaving at the end of the season don't think many will shed a tear

[harpendenfox]

Here's a little gem for the statto's amongst you. The highly rated Zak Chappell has 31 first class wickets for County spread over three years. Ben Mike now has 12 in just over a week....

[Cake]

5 hours ago, everton carr said:

Very much disagree about GR being an eyesore most people myself inc consider we have one of the nicest grounds  in County cricket take it your not been to Essex Sussex Derby or Northants. Regarding test sides they have no say on what tour games they play but I know Australia   Have said in the past we have the best nets in the Country a view shared by many which was why they set up there training camp at Leicester before the 2009 Ashes series

Yes I think Grace road is nice enough. Crowds are low may be due to a lack of success or is a lack of success due to small crowds? I've played cricket for over 30 years every year some of those clubs fall by the wayside it may just be a sign of the times. However in other areas crowds are up. 

 

I think better links with the football and rugby side are an excellent idea. 

 

I went to Kent to watch County this year, small city but they sell out many T20 7,500 capacity. Nice little ground.You would think we could match a small city like Canterbury, they pay 30 pound for t20 also.

[Cake]

3 hours ago, everton carr said:

According to Richard Rae Ned Eckersley will be leaving at the end of the season don't think many will shed a tear

No I'll feeling but thank goodness. If that's the case Hill or Sayers should have played. 

 

A player out of contract at Essex who still is playing well is Zaidi. A good left arm spinner and decent bat. Averages mid 20s with the ball and mid 30s with the bat. Good attitude played with him years ago. He would be a good signing. Essex have three left arm bowlers so don't need him. Plays tough and hasn't been born with a silver spoon. What we need.

 

Jack Leaning hasn't played for Yorkshire much and wants out. Worth a look.