Golden day as pair receive County’s highest honour
LEICESTERSHIRE County Cricket Club has bestowed the club’s highest honour on Chris Wright and Lewis Hill.
The pair can now sport the gold fox on their county cap after a presentation during lunch on day three of the LV=CC County Championship victory over Sussex at the Uptonsteel County Ground Grace Road this week.
Doing the honours was James Whitaker, fellow capped Fox and captain of the 1996 and 1998 County Championship winning teams.
Hill, a Leicestershire-born one-club-man, has had his best-ever season , scoring runs in abundance across all three formats.
He recorded his third century of the season in the Sussex game.
Since making his debut in 2014, the academy graduate has made 175 appearances in all competitions, scoring 4,586 runs in the process.
Hill has recorded 19 halfcenturies and seven hundreds, including four in his last 10 innings. He has also taken 154 catches and claimed six stumpings.
A career-best of 145 against Sussex confirmed him as the club’s highest run-scorer this season.
Wright joined Leicestershire ahead of the 2019 campaign and recently took his 500th first-class wicket against Derbyshire, a special match in which he also recorded his highest-ever score with the bat, 87.
He picked up 6 for 94 against Sussex, taking his Leicestershire tally beyond 100.
His 102 wickets have come at an average of under 26, including six five-wicket hauls.
Four of those have been claimed during the 2021 campaign, including career-best first-class figures of seven for 53 at Gloucestershire.
Wright is County’s leading wickettaker in the County Championship, claiming 46 at under 22 runs apiece.
Hill said of his honour: “I’m pretty speechless, to be fair. I love playing cricket, and I love playing cricket for Leicestershire.
“To get a County cap is something I will always remember, and to receive off the likes of James Whitaker, a club hero, makes it all the more special.”
Wright said: “I am immensely proud. Any time you get recognition from your peers is really special, I am really pleased to have achieved it here.
“It was also nice timing to receive on the back of this game.
“We have worked really hard over the course of the season and performed consistently - it does feel fitting, and it is nice to do it at the same time.”
We have worked really hard this season and performed consistently. It does feel fitting
Chris Wright