Now Foxes aim to match their four-day revival with white ball

BY LEICESTERSHIRE’S recent low standards, winless in four-day cricket in 2013 and 2014, last year had plenty of positives as they recorded a quartet of County Championship wins.

That was the same number as fourth-placed Sussex in Division Two, and it could have been much better for the Foxes except for a late-season dip in form.

Such has been the improvement that there was disappointment when elite performance director Andrew McDonald announced he would be returning to Australia.

In his place, though, is a man familiar to many of the players, Pierre de Bruyn, who arrived as a 2nd XI coach and ended the season assisting McDonald.

In stark contrast to their red-ball form, the Foxes were dire in limited overs action last year, bottom of their T20 Blast group and second from bottom in the Royal London One-Day Cup.

Mark Pettini has been relieved of his captaincy duties to concentrate on scoring runs, with Aussie Clint McKay, 34, taking the limited-overs armband.

New Zealand powerhouse Luke Ronchi has been signed to provide added T20 firepower while Cameron Delport is available for both white-ball formats and De Bruyn’s compatriots Colin Ackermann and Dieter Klein will play in all competitions.

Ackermann, 25, should add much needed runs to the Foxes’ top order those from captain Mark Cosgrove and Ned Eckersley.

Both Neil Dexter, 32, and Paul Horton, 34, scored more than 900 Championship runs in 2016 but there’s also optimism around young Harry Dearden and Tom Wells.

Tom, son of former Leicester rugby captain John Wells is part of a core of Leicestershire academy products, alongside Zak Chappell and Aadil Ali, who need to score big runs.

Young seamer Will Fazakerley and off-spinner Rob Sayer are also young talents hoping for their chance to shine under De Bruyn after the departures of Jigar Naik and Ollie Freckingham.

Klein, who played twice for the Foxes last year, will add much-needed bowling to the experienced pair of McKay and Charlie Shreck, 39, who shared 100 Division Two wickets last year.

De Bruyn said: “I have been impressed with the attitude and commitment over the last few months, and players are being rewarded for their efforts.

“We have a strong squad and competition will only increase in the coming weeks, so the selected players will need to stake their claim from ball one.”