Matthew Boyce

Squad Number - 19

Player Sponsor - GREAT Learning Centre

Born - Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, August 13, 1985

Joined - Leicestershire 2005

Role - Left Hand Batsman, Off Spinner

Family - Single

Teams Represented - Leicestershire

Honours - Daily Mail Cup winner while at Twickenham playing rugby for Oakham School

Highlight of Career - Scoring a double century and playing for England Development Squad against Bangladesh in 2004

Players Admired - Justin Langer, Graham Thorpe

Relaxations - Poker, socialising

The left-handed opening batsman is another former pupil of Oakham School like former County all-rounder Stuart Broad. Boyce completed his undergraduate degree in Management and Economics at Nottingham University before the start of last season and went onto shine as an opening batsman. Boyce made his maiden first-class ton at Edgbaston and went onto become the third highest run-scorer in the Championship behind Ackerman and Nixon. A calm and unflustered batsman, Boyce was handed his first team debut in testing circumstances in 2006 when he played against the Pakistan touring team in their opening match of their visit to England and therefore came face to face with a pace attack of international quality. Boyce was tipped for a bright future in the game before the start of last season and immediately fulfilled that potential by the fact that he made back-to-back Championship half-centuries in the opener against Middlesex in just his third first-class game for the club. Spent the 2008 pre-season at the Darren Lehmann academy in Adelaide, and came back eager to stamp his mark on the Leicestershire first eleven in all forms of the game. Boyce certainly did that by also showing good form in the one-day arena, where his fielding also made him an asset to the team. Signed a new three-year deal along with Cobb and Taylor at the end of the 2008 campaign.