Leicestershire County Cricket Club in 2005 are playing their cricket in Division Two of the County Championship and of the totesport League. They started the season as 25–1 outsiders to take the Division Two Championship title. These odds looked reasonable as they plummeted to an innings defeat in their first match, picking up only one point against Durham. They then lost their first totesport match, also against Durham, by 9 runs on the Duckworth-Lewis method.
Their second Championship match saw them have the worse of a draw against Northamptonshire, and they may have been saved by a late declaration from Northants. Leicestershire then lost their Sunday League game at Canterbury in a rain-affected match, before drawing with Durham UCCE. Playing at the Foxes, they then beat the Sabres at Taunton. Then, on 4 May, they edged past the same side at Grace Road in a low-scoring game to progress to Round Two of the C&G Trophy.
They then beat Surrey in the National League. On 17 May they were dumped out of the C&G Trophy at the Second Round stage by Warwickshire.
June started with a draw against Somerset, before winning the Sunday match against the same team. On 11 June they took on the Australians over 50 overs and lost heavily. However, they recovered well to take a low-scoring match against Yorkshire the following day, and then bowled Worcestershire out 13 runs short of a target of 141 to take a County Championship match against them. Two wins in the National League followed, sending them up into third place, as Leicestershire were on a high going into the Twenty20 matches.
And they took care of their good form. Winning two of their first three games, against Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Durham, they looked well on the way to the quarter-finals, although the fight would be difficult against Lancashire, to whom they lost their fourth match. However, that was their last loss, as Leicestershire won three of their next four to finish second in the North Division. In the County Championship, however, they were defeated by a triple century from Somerset's skipper Graeme Smith, which sent them further down the Division Two tables. Their second tour match of the season against Australia followed - this time they drew, thanks to a solid batting effort from Australian Chris Rogers, who made a career highest-score of 209.
As defending champions of the Twenty20 Cup, they booked their places in the semi-finals yet again on 18 July thanks to a victory over Middlesex, but lost to Yorkshire, conceding 400 runs in the second innings to the Yorkshiremen for the second time this season. In the National League, however, they defeated Scotland easily, before drawing a rain-hit match with Essex. On 30 July they travelled to The Oval to lose their Twenty20 Cup semi-final with Somerset Sabres.
August started with a 234-run Championship loss to Lancashire, before they travelled down to the coast to beat Sussex in the National League. However, a loss against Surrey meant that they would have to struggle to keep their promotion place in Division Two, as Durham were now tied on points with a game in hand. They played Durham in the Championship in the second week of August, and a rain-hit, high-scoring match ended in a draw. In the National League, however, they were bowled out for 113 and lost by eight wickets, losing ground in the promotion battle. Their second National League victory over Sussex in two weeks, however, meant that promotion in the National League was quite possible, and a rained off match with Warwickshire kept that battle tight.
A rain-hit Championship match at Grace Road with Northamptonshire ended in a draw, and so did their last match of August, with Worcestershire. They managed their fifth match without defeat when they trounced Yorkshire by 133 runs at Headingley, but that run was broken by Derbyshire at home two days later. Derbyshire and the rain also held them to a Championship draw.
Leicestershire hosted the International 20:20 Club Championship in the middle of September, and after progressing to the semi-finals thanks to a win over Somerset Sabres, they were defeated by nine runs by Chilaw Marians, before rounding off the season with a rare Championship win over Lancashire and a League win over Kent.
Players Dinesh Mongia Charl Willoughby Matthew Boyce David Brignull Stuart Broad Charles Dagnall Phil DeFreitas Nicholas Ferraby Ottis Gibson Aftab Habib Claude Henderson Chris Liddle Darren Maddy David Masters John Maunders Tom New Paul Nixon Darren Robinson John Sadler Jeremy Snape Tables
Championship + 2005 County Championship – Division Two Pos Team Pld W D L Pen Bat Bowl Pts 1 Lancashire 16 7 6 3 0 43 47 212 2 Durham 16 6 8 2 0 45 44 205 3 Yorkshire 16 5 10 1 0.5 49 42 200.5 4 Northamptonshire 16 5 8 3 0 45 46 193 5 Essex 16 5 7 4 0 51 36 185 6 Worcestershire 16 5 4 7 5.5 53 46 179.5 7 Leicestershire 16 3 7 6 0.5 45 45 159.5 8 Somerset 16 4 5 7 0 42 37 155 9 Derbyshire 16 1 7 8 0 31 43 116
totesport League + 2005 totesport League – Division Two Pos Team Pld W L NR T Pts 1 Sussex Sharks 18 13 4 1 0 54 2 Durham Dynamos 18 12 4 2 0 52 3 Warwickshire Bears 18 10 6 2 0 44 4 Leicestershire Foxes 18 10 7 1 0 42 5 Derbyshire Phantoms 18 9 7 1 1 40 6 Somerset Sabres 18 9 8 1 0 38 7 Surrey Lions 18 7 10 1 0 30 8 Kent Spitfires 18 6 10 2 0 28 9 Yorkshire Phoenix 18 5 13 0 0 20 10 Scottish Saltires 18 2 14 1 1 12
Match details
Leicestershire v Durham (13–15 April)
Durham (22pts) beat Leicestershire (1pt) by an innings and 216 runs
Durham won the toss against Leicestershire and elected to bat first at Grace Road, Leicester. The first day was dominated by Durham's Australian left-handed opener, Mike Hussey. Hussey may not be good enough to make the Australian Test squad, but he was good to make an undefeated 165 off 290 balls on a flat pitch on the first day. Former England Under-19 batsman Gordon Muchall helped Hussey add 166 for the third-wicket partnership, before being run out for 82. Durham finished day one on 325 for 3.
On the second day, Hussey powered on, and was seventh man out for 253, an innings that included 3 sixes and 33 fours. Durham finally declared on a mammoth 523 for 8 declared off 161 overs. It did not get much better for Leicestershire when they finally did get to bat on a pitch was much less placid than on the first day. Liam Plunkett soon took their first four wickets, and also had one dropped as Leicestershire struggled to 49 for 4. Leicestershire went on to finish their first innings on 123 all out. Plunkett finished on 5 for 43. Leicestershire were then forced to follow-on exactly 400 behind. They made 10 without loss by the end of the day. Stephen Harmison, England's out of form fast bowler, performed well, but could still not take a wicket and was upstaged by Plunkett.
Durham spent 70.3 third-day overs on the process of finishing off Leicestershire. The good news for England fans will be the return to form of Harmison, who took 4 for 30 as Leicestershire were dismissed for 184. At one stage, Harmison had taken three wickets in a 15-ball spell without conceding a run. Plunkett continued to unsettle the batsmen and finished on 3 for 55. Only one Leicestershire batsman, John Maunders, was able to score a 50.(Cricinfo scorecard)
Leicestershire v Durham (17 April)
Durham (4pts) beat Leicestershire (0pts) by 9 runs (D/L method)
Leicestershire Foxes won the toss at Grace Road, Leicester and elected to bat. Liam Plunkett continued his good form, dismissing John Maunders and Aftab Habib early, as the Foxes faltered to 4 for 2. Darren Maddy and HD Ackerman then put on 98 for the third wicket, which helped Leicestershire to 175 for 8 off their 45 overs. Durham Dynamos edged to 85 for 3 from 33 overs, when rain prevented further play, leaving Durham the winners on the Duckworth-Lewis method. (BBC scorecard)
Northamptonshire v Leicestershire (20–23 April)
Northamptonshire (12pts) drew with Leicestershire (9pts)
The first day at Northampton saw only 26.2 overs, during which Northamptonshire progressed to 90 for no loss. On the second day Bilal Shafayat (59), Martin Love (50), David Sales (113), Damien Wright (95) and Gerard Brophy (52) all contributed with the bat, as the hosts moved to 433 for 6 declared. However, Northamptonshire bowled without luck, allowing Leicestershire to score 69 for 0 at close.
On the third day, Leicestershire progressed to 339 all out, with Darren Robinson scoring 100. However, the innings was controversial, with three debatable decisions going against the visitors. First Robinson was given out caught, when the ball probably hit his forearm. Then HD Ackerman was out leg before to a delivery that looked high. Then, at 220 for 5 Aftab Habib edged Jason Brown low to Martin Love at first slip. Habib thought it had not carried, and Love and one umpire were not sure. The other umpire said he was out, so off Habib went. But he returned to confront Shafayat who taunted Habib on the dismissal. Northamptonshire progressed to 45 for 0 at close.
The fourth day saw the game peter out to a draw, as a late declaration, with the score on 238 for 3, left Northamptonshire just less than two session to dismiss Leicestershire, who were set an unrealistic target of 333 to win in 58 overs. Leicestershire were 115 for 4 when the draw was agreed with 11 overs still available. (BBC scorecard)
Kent v Leicestershire (24 April)
Kent (4pts) beat Leicestershire (0pts) by 6 runs (D/L method)
At Canterbury Leicestershire Foxes scored 214 from their 45 overs, with Dinesh Mongia contributing 62. Martin Saggers, who is not yet fully fit, took 3 for 46 for the Kent Spitfires. In reply, England openers Rob Key and Geraint Jones both failed, before South Africa's Martin van Jaarsveld continued his great start to the season with an unbeaten 69. Kent were 150 for 4 after 33.5 overs when rain and bad light brought an end to a closely fought game, which Kent took after being ahead according to the Duckworth-Lewis method. (Cricinfo scorecard)
Leicestershire v Durham UCCE (27–29 April)
Match drawn
Leicestershire batted first at Grace Road, and Darren Maddy made the most of his chance against the students. He has scored only one Championship ton in the last two seasons, but got to 124 on the first day. At close, Leicestershire were on 288 for 3. On the second day, they declared on 384 for 4. Durham UCCE went slowly. David Brown finished the day, having batted for over 4 hours and through 237 balls to get an undefeated 68. But after being reduced to 12 for 3, that's exactly what the students needed. They finished on 169 for 6 off 79 overs, 216 behind, but well on the way towards saving the game. On the third day, Durham UCCE went on to score 255 thanks to 73 from David Balcombe, avoiding the follow-on and saving the game. It was only batting practice from there with Leicestershire ending on 187 for 4. (BBC scorecard)
Somerset v Leicestershire (1 May)
Somerset (4pts) beat Leicestershire (0pts) by 8 wickets
The Leicestershire Foxes were restricted to 211 for 8 at Taunton, with Aaron Laraman the pick of the Somerset bowlers - his bowling analysis read 9-2-17-2. Four Leicestershire batsmen passed 30, yet the highest score of the innings was Paul Nixon's 41. John Francis and Keith Parsons then completed the win for the Sabres with 73 and 91 respectively, sharing a third-wicket partnership of 157. This gave Somerset their first win in any competition this season, and meant that the Foxes were still waiting for their first win. (BBC scorecard)
Leicestershire v Somerset (4 May)
Leicestershire beat Somerset by 3 wickets to progress to Round Two of the C&G Trophy