Leicestershire County Cricket Club in 2005 are playing their cricket in Division Two of the County Championship and of the totesport League. They started the season as 25-1 outsiders to take the Division Two Championship title. These odds looked reasonable as they plummeted to an innings defeat in their first match, picking up only one point against Durham. They then lost their first totesport match, also against Durham, by 9 runs on the Duckworth-Lewis method.
Their second Championship match saw them have the worse of a draw against Northamptonshire, and they may have been saved by a late declaration from Northants. Leicestershire then lost their Sunday League game at Canterbury in a rain-affected match, before drawing with Durham UCCE. Playing at the Foxes, they then beat the Sabres at Taunton. Then on 4 May they edged past the same side at Grace Road in a low-scoring game to progress to Round Two of the C&G Trophy.
They then beat Surrey in the National League. On 17 May they were dumped out of the C&G Trophy at the Second Round stage by Warwickshire.
June started with a draw against Somerset, before winning the Sunday match against the same team. On 11 June they took on the Australians over 50 overs and lost heavily. However, they recovered well to take a low-scoring match against Yorkshire the following day, and then bowled Worcestershire out 13 runs short of a target of 141 to take a County Championship match against them. Two wins in the National League followed, sending them up into third place, as Leicestershire were on a high going into the Twenty20 matches.
And they took care of their good form. Winning two of their first three games, against Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Durham, they looked well on the way to the quarter-finals, although the fight would be difficult against Lancashire, to whom they lost their fourth match. However, that was their last loss, as Leicestershire won three of their next four to finish second in the North Division. In the County Championship, however, they were defeated by a triple century from Somerset's skipper Graeme Smith, which sent them further down the Division Two tables. Their second tour match of the season against Australia followed - this time they drew, thanks to a solid batting effort from Australian Chris Rogers, who made a career highest-score of 209.
As defending champions of the Twenty20 Cup, they booked their places in the semi-finals yet again on 18 July thanks to a victory over Middlesex, but lost to Yorkshire, conceding 400 runs in the second innings to the Yorkshiremen for the second time this season. In the National League, however, they defeated Scotland easily, before drawing a rain-hit match with Essex. On 30 July they travelled to The Oval to lose their Twenty20 Cup semi-final with Somerset Sabres.
August started with a 234-run Championship loss to Lancashire, before they travelled down to the coast to beat Sussex in the National League. However, a loss against Surrey meant that they would have to struggle to keep their promotion place in Division Two, as Durham were now tied on points with a game in hand. They played Durham in the Championship in the second week of August, and a rain-hit, high-scoring match ended in a draw. In the National League, however, they were bowled out for 113 and lost by eight wickets, losing ground in the promotion battle. Their second National League victory over Sussex in two weeks, however, meant that promotion in the National League was quite possible, and a rained off match with Warwickshire kept that battle tight.
A rain-hit Championship match at Grace Road with Northamptonshire ended in a draw, and so did their last match of August, with Worcestershire. They managed their fifth match without defeat when they trounced Yorkshire by 133 runs at Headingley, but that run was broken by Derbyshire at home two days later. Derbyshire and the rain also held them to a Championship draw.
Leicestershire hosted the International 20:20 Club Championship in the middle of September, and after progressing to the semi-finals thanks to a win over Somerset Sabres, they were defeated by nine runs by Chilaw Marians, before rounding off the season with a rare Championship win over Lancashire and a League win over Kent.
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