County Championship 2023: How 'little' Leicestershire are proving their worth

At "little" Leicestershire they have "a passion" for proving people wrong.

As a player, Paul Nixon made a decorated career of it at Grace Road, twice claiming the County Championship title before winning the T20 competition a record three times with the unfancied Foxes.

Now as head coach, the former England wicketkeeper finds himself evoking the same attitude when the question is openly asked: "Should Leicestershire be allowed to survive?"

Finishing bottom of Division Two of the County Championship seven times since 2011, and going winless in the red-ball game in four of those seasons, has often left the Foxes being used as the unwanted example of the domestic game's shortcomings.

"It makes me angry," Nixon told BBC Radio Leicester when asked about how the club has been portrayed at times.

"It makes me even more passionate to do well and say that is so incorrect.

"It adds fuel to our fire. We have always proved people wrong. The success we had, people couldn't believe it when we won the Championship in 1996 and again in '98. How could little Leicestershire beat Surrey, go to The Oval and beat those guys by an innings?

"We want to make sure we continue the pedigree of this great club. In 1879 it was formed, it's had some amazing England captains over the years, and we are still the leading T20 trophy winners in this country because no-one else has won more than our three.

"We are the running foxes, look at our badge, we want to be running forwards and it's crucial we all do that together."

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The England and Wales Cricket Board's high-performance review, led by Sir Andrew Strauss, proposed paring back County Championship cricket from 14 to 10 games per season and reducing the number of Division One teams to six.

Leicestershire chief executive Sean Jarvis said the proposals, when announced in September, would be a "nail in the coffin" for them and others in the game.

It is understood that changes to the domestic structure - which the 18 first-class counties themselves would have to vote through on a two-thirds majority - are unlikely before 2025.

The aim of the review, which has divided opinion within the game, is to strengthen England on the international stage, with a majority of players and directors of cricket found to agree that "a reduction in the amount of cricket played is essential".

But it was in Leicestershire, during the latest of their winless campaigns, that one of England's brightest talents - leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed - was discovered.

Ahmed's rise to England stardom

At 18 years and 128 days, Ahmed emerged on the Test-match stage in December to become England's youngest debutant and he marked the milestone with a record-breaking five-wicket haul.

Ahmed has since gone on to become the youngest player to feature for England in all three formats of the game.

Almost immediately he was heralded as "a showman and real deal" for the national side, while at Grace Road they see him as living proof of what Leicestershire offer - and have always offered - the game.

Ray Illingworth, who skippered the Foxes to their first County Championship title in 1975, and David Gower both captained England during their illustrious years at Leicestershire.

But it is not just in snapshots from a bygone era that Leicestershire's influence on the Test team can be seen.

Leicestershire 'playing vital role'

Stuart Broad, England's second-highest wicket-taker of all time, was brought through at the club and was still playing for the Foxes when handed his first one-day and T20 caps in 2006.

Likewise, James Taylor was still at Grace Road when he was first called up to the national side.

After being forced to retire on medical grounds and going on to be a national selector, Taylor has returned to the club as batting coach.

"I love this place, some people might not but I do," Taylor said.

"Ultimately, Leicestershire have been producing England players, like when I was here, Broad and a number of other players have come through the set-up over the years.

"Yes, it's been sporadic at times, but they are still producing England players and that's what you want.

"They are clearly still contributing because look at Rehan Ahmed - he is a phenomenal talent that Leicestershire has helped produce.

"They play a vital role in giving opportunities to players.

"When you talk about experience, Leicestershire gave me so many experiences at a young age to allow me to flourish as a batsman and cricketer."

And it is for that reason that Ahmed chose Leicestershire as a 13-year-old in 2017.

While Taylor, Broad and Harry Gurney each emerged at Grace Road then left for their East Midlands rivals Nottinghamshire as their careers were taking off, Ahmed went the other way at a time when he was being billed as "one of the brightest prospects in English cricket".

"I moved because of a feeling," Ahmed told BBC East Midlands Today.

"I heard a lot of good things about Leicester. It's a very family-like environment and much smaller than Notts, so I thought I'd get more opportunities here.

"I came here and made my debut at 16, so it was a good move."

'Risk of taking cricket away from people'

Leicestershire second XI coach Dips Patel called on Ahmed just five months before he made his Test debut.

Having played and coached at the club for 30 years, Patel knows the importance of being given a chance.

When asked what it would mean to lose a county like Leicestershire, Patel said: "You are taking away the game from people if you do that.

"If you lose smaller counties, people will have less drive to be a professional cricketer.

"Yes, the quality isn't always going to be there, but you will get a bright spark like Rehan."

Foxes CEO Jarvis says the club is "defined" by the prospects it creates for cricketers.

And so are the foundations for a planned £60m redevelopment of Grace Road - a 145-year-old suburban ground hemmed in on all sides by terraced housing.

'This is what we believe in'

Leicestershire say it is consulting with developers, stakeholders and the community on its redevelopment plans

Refurbishing the stadium to try and bring lucrative international cricket back is undoubtedly a major objective, but Jarvis says the creation of an "academy of cricket campus" at the ground in partnership with local universities - which could see them them offer the world's first MBA in cricket management - is about trying to realise their "purpose".

"What we stand for, our DNA, is the academy of cricket - we believe in giving players that opportunity to perform and play at the highest level," he said.

"The plans we revealed, combined with the performances of Rehan, show what Leicestershire is capable of."

Jarvis insists plans for the ground "are more than just pretty pictures", adding that work to finance the project - which they hope to begin within two years - continues.

As for how the questions about Leicestershire's place in the game affects those aspirations, Jarvis says the club's plans and Ahmed's breakthrough has changed how they are being seen.

"It's easy to be paranoid with the dialogue that is out there when you read media reports criticising or questioning the worth of Leicestershire," he said.

"It's easy to sit in that room and see people's eyes and actually feel a little challenged, but I think we have got to fight our cause.

"Previously, maybe we were our own architects in that downfall by not having our own identity, by not understanding what we stood for as a club.

"Collectively, we can now go into those meetings with our chest pumped out and can look people in the eye and say, 'Look, this what we believe in.'

"There is always the challenge of the high-performance review and whatever the next review might be, but we have to plough our own furrow and believe in what we believe in."