THE career of Matthew Hoggard, the former England bowler, would appear to be drawing to a close after Leicestershire announced Ramnaresh Sarwan would take over the four-day captaincy for next season. Hoggard, who joined Leicestershire in 2010, will enter the final year of his contract in 2013. He has now relinquished the captaincy in all three formats and, at the age of 35, his playing days could be numbered after a 16-year career. He described the change as the “right time to be handing over the reins”.
Hoggard led Leicestershire to a third T20 title in 2011 but only took 24 first-class wickets at 28.79 in 2012 – the second-lowest haul since his first full season in 1998 – and stood down from the one-day captaincy in July, with Josh Cobb taking up the role.
Cobb will now be vice-captain of the Championship side, which will be led by Sarwan, who committed himself to Leicestershire by extending his one-year deal to a three-year arrangement.
Chief executive, Mike Siddall, said it was an opportunity to “put a succession plan in place for the future”, with head coach Phil Whitticase adding: “I’ve really enjoyed working with Matthew over the past three years, especially during our successful T20 campaign.
It is important for everyone to get behind Ronnie as we look to take the club forward.” (ESPN Cricinfo)