Recruitment & Selection Policy '10

LCCC’s recruitment has seen the club add five new faces to our squad for the 2010 cricket season;

• Matthew Hoggard chose Leicestershire over a number of other interested counties. Matthew brings with him a wealth of experience having played for England on 67 occasions taking 248 Test match wickets. He will take over the club captaincy and will be an ideal role model for all our young cricketers at the club.

• Australian Test Match cricketer Brad Hodge is returning for the sixteen match Twenty20 competition as our second overseas player. He played in the Twenty20 cup winning team of 2004, He knows the club well, having spent the seasons 2003 and 2004 with us and he will bring a wealth of experience to next summers Twenty/20 campaign.

• Australian Test match all rounder Andrew McDonald, is our overseas player for 2010. He is a fine all round cricketer who was outstanding in the inaugural Twenty20 Champions League competition. Andrew made a significant contribution throughout the Victoria campaign and this experience can only benefit everyone at LCCC.

• The club has also signed Will Jefferson from Nottinghamshire. He will be ideally suited to opening the batting at Grace Road and joins the club with his best cricket years ahead of him

• James Benning joined LCCC after a two month loan period during August and September 2009. He is a magnificent striker of a cricket ball and a useful support bowler that will give the club much needed balance in the team.

Recruitment is now over until September 2010. It was always the club’s intention to bring new players into the club, but we also had to wait for players to finish their contracts and move on before being able to add to the squad.

There are a number of very good young English qualified players at the Club, many of whom have been through the Leicestershire and Rutland development system. James Taylor had a marvellous season in 2009 and started playing for Leicestershire in our under 11 age group in 2002. He has signed a new three-year contract keeping him at the club until September 2012.

England under 19 internationals Josh Cobb, Nathan Buck and Greg Smith have also all signed new three-year contracts. They all started and graduated through the Leicestershire age group system.

The club has provided England age group squads with eight players in the last 18 months, and James Taylor’s selection for the England Lions tour in February 2010 was further evidence of the development structure within the club being recognised externally.

We are still totally committed to producing players through our development system, but it is important we have the right balance between senior and younger players.

In 2010 LCCC aims to play nine English qualified players and two non-qualified players in all competitions, except in the Twenty20 competition where the club will have a second overseas player and where we will play eight English qualified players.

We will use a core group of senior role model cricketers to include Matthew Hoggard, Andrew McDonald, Claude Henderson, Paul Nixon and Brad Hodge to help support our young players’ development.

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January 2010.