People will probably take one look outside and wonder why an article is being written about cricket at this time of year, but yes, our ‘summer sport’ is finally upon us. Not only upon us, but here earlier than any other time in the county cricketing calendar.

With the Tigers performing so strongly in the Premiership and still very much at the forefront of Leicestershire sports fans’ minds, we may still have to take a back seat before the rugby boots can be replaced by the cricket spikes. But when the first game does get underway, this new Foxes team is champing at the bit to start leaving an impression in people’s minds. The excitement and enthusiasm that all of us have been feeling since the new squad gathered at the beginning of November has replaced all thoughts of last season.

The winter months have given me a real opportunity to immerse myself in everything that is Leicestershire sport and what it means to the county. Attending the Leicester Mercury Sports Awards at the Walkers Stadium gave the press a first chance to snap James ‘Titch’ Taylor, all 5’5 of him, and myself side by side.

It is something that will come up in many a cricket discussion over the course of the summer and will no doubt be the focus of everyone that sees us bat together when the opportunity arises this season! It was a pleasure to meet a fellow Norfolk boy on the night, Ben Youngs, who made some scything runs when I witnessed Tigers thump Wasps at Welford Road. He has now played his first of many games for the full England XV in this year’s Six Nations. An exciting future for both the Tigers and England beckons. A World Cup winner’s medal next year in New Zealand would be a nice start please Ben!

The Sport Relief Mile around the ground at Grace Road was a humbling experience for me. To come second last, out of a field of about sixty runners – and only ahead of the fitness instructor’s three year old son – because of an achilles injury I picked up in Potchefstroom obviously drew some stick from my fellow runners in the first team squad!

I cannot let this first blog pass without a mention of the remarkable improvements of the overall standards of fitness across the entire squad over the course of the winter. Knuckling down back in November and, under the expert guidance of Pete McKnight, our Strength and Conditioning Coach, to return the set of results across the board is a phenomenal effort and a good starting point in our quest for team success this season.

Our goal, and what we have continued to return to when we have chatted as a squad, is to play to a level of consistency that will stand up to whatever is thrown at us during the course of this season, to stick together as a group and look out for each other during the tough times. An example of this can be seen by some of the work we have been doing since being forced indoors because of the ‘second winter’ we seem to be experiencing at the moment.

Not allowing us to slip into any sort of comfort zone, our Senior Coach, Tim Boon has ensured the guys have taken all sorts of knocks on the fingers, head, forearm and ribs in response to dealing with the bowling machines being cranked up to 85-89 mph. It has turned out to be our very own school of hard knocks, but one which will stand us in very good stead once the sun does finally come out.

The importance of nutrition and diet has become the norm in today’s elite sporting environments. With the constant sacrifices that are made in a sportsperson’s lifestyle to help try and find an edge over their fellow competitors, staging a ‘Come Dine With Me’ competition amongst the players has been discussed. This follows the success of the squad cooking ‘braais’ (meat grilled on a barbecue) for each other every Sunday evening when we were in Potchefstroom.

This was put forward by one of the young lads still living at home and I think he would have a distinct advantage over the rest of us! Four of the young lads sharing a house can call on a variety of pasta dishes (which is all their budget allows them to buy and eat at the moment). Elaine, who works in the office, is always producing sumptuous cakes, which we obviously all have to turn down, Matt Boyce is currently perfecting his Sushi making skills and my soups have been tasted by some of the squad – and they still made it into training the next day thankfully!

Pre-season was kicked off with a day at the Leicestershire Golf Club, who we are very lucky to still have a very strong link with after forty years. Why a photographer would want to stand fifteen yards in front of a direct duck-hook shot with Matthew Hoggard standing on the first tee, I have no idea. The whole squad witnessed the ball rocket two feet away from his camera lens at 200mph, with him the only one not realising just how close he was to being killed by the ball.

After that our new skipper’s no nonsense approach to most things in life kept him on the straight and narrow and meant he stuck to the same ball all round – a first for him, he pointed out in the bar afterwards! To have a player of Matthew’s calibre come into the set-up at Leicestershire speaks volumes for the vision the club has for this coming period.

His no excuses attitude has rubbed off on junior and senior players alike and personally, I am looking forward to taking to the field by his side after many battles over the last decade playing against him for both Essex and Nottinghamshire.