All-rounder Lilley signs three-year Foxes deal

EXPLOSIVE Leicestershire all-rounder Arron Lilley has signed a new three-year white-ball contract at Grace Road ahead of the 2021 season.

The big-hitting batsman and off-spinner has enjoyed two impressive Vitality Blast campaigns in Leicestershire colours after signing from Lancashire.

Lilley, 29, finished the 2020 campaign top of the run-scorers chart for the Running Foxes, posting 276, including a careerbest T20 score of 69 in the win over Durham at Headingley.

In 2019, Lilley finished fourth in the Running Foxes batting averages in the Vitality Blast after posting a total of 248 runs at an average of 20.66.

He finished the year with an incredible strike-rate of 167.56 and a total of 34 boundaries.

His stand-out performance in 2019 came at a rain-soaked Trent Bridge when he posted a then career-best T20 score of 66 off 31 balls, in the 21-run win over the Outlaws in an 11-over apiece fixture.

Lilley maintained his incredible strike-rate in 2020, finishing the campaign on 139 with a total of 33 boundaries. He was pivotal in the Running Foxes squad that reached the quarter-finals for the first time in four years.

Lilley said: “I have been here for two years now and I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with Nico [Paul Nixon] and the lads.

“We had a really good campaign last year and I hope that we can push on from that next year.”

Head coach Nixon said Lilley was outstanding last season and is a player “who has the X Factor”.