'My hair was falling out' - Why Hill quit as Leics skipper

Lewis Hill made his first-class debut in 2015

Lewis Hill says he stepped down as Leicestershire captain at the end of last season after the stress of the position caused hair loss.

The 34-year-old led the Foxes to One-Day Cup success in 2023 during his two years as club skipper.

Leicestershire reached the semi-finals in defence of their title in 2024, while they finished fifth in the second division of the County Championship with one win and 10 draws from their 14 red-ball matches.

Hill has previously suffered with alopecia, a general term for hair loss, and admits it was a "tough year".

"I had a few health things going on with my hair falling out," he told BBC Radio Leicester.

"I gave it my all as captain and probably a little too much in the end because it affected my lifestyle and health.

"When you are captain you think about so many things, look after so many people in the team and you are worried about how people are if they get selected or don't get selected.

"I just kind of lost the sense of looking after myself a little bit."

Typically alopecia affects the head, but the severity of hair loss can vary from a small area to the entire body, according to the NHS.

Hill said he resorted to constantly wearing caps to hide patches of hair loss.

"I've had alopecia three times in my life - when I was at school, then four or five years ago just before I got married I got a little spot randomly.

"Stress is kind of the main thing, but they don't actually know, which is a weird thing.

"When you have something like that I wear a cap every day and people ask 'why are you wearing a cap?'

"I probably didn't deal with it, I just tried to crack on with things when I should have sat down and thought about it a bit deeper.

"It's stress and there is a bit of the immune system attacking the hair follicles if you have bad eczema as well."

Hill said giving up Leicestershire's captaincy has allowed him to refocus on his batting.

"I picked up my cricket bats in September and I went around to my mum and dad's house and put them in the spare room," he said.

"I didn't have a single cricket bat in my house until January and in those few months I really reflected on the couple of years I had the captaincy."

In his first competitive match since handing the captaincy to Peter Handscomb, Hill top-scored with 96 in the Foxes' first innings in the 10-wicket win against Glamorgan in their opening County Championship match of the new season.

That knock was better than anything he managed last season as he amassed 431 red-ball runs, just under half of the 880 he scored in 2023.

"It took my hair, but luckily I've got it back this year, just like how my batting has come back," Hill said.

"People ask if I'm sad that I gave the captaincy away, and I say no because it was the best for myself the team.

"Pete is a great guy and leader so there was somebody there to take the reins straight away.

"I'm really grateful they gave me the opportunity to do it, it was amazing but it was definitely the right time to give it up and to get back and just think about batting."

Leicestershire play their first home match of the county season against Derbyshire, starting on Friday, 11 April.