Leicestershire have released opening batsman Angus Robson from his contract by mutual consent. The 25-year-old’s deal was due to expire at the end of the season, but Leicestershire have agreed to a request from the player to allow him to look for another club at which to further his career.
While Robson endured a tough 2016 with the bat, he is an experienced member of the Leicestershire team and his loss will be a further blow to the club, who were hit with a 16 point deduction and a suspended £5,000 fine for disciplinary breaches before their comprehensive defeat by rivals Nottinghamshire this week.
Robson’s growth as a cricketer was a rare positive for Leicestershire during a torrid few seasons for the club as they went winless throughout the 2013 and 2014 seasons. In perhaps his most memorable performance, he scored 120 and 71 at Chelmsford to end their dreadful barren run. His other first-class century came in 2014 against the touring Indian side.
Primarily a red-ball cricketer, Robson leaves Leicestershire with nearly 3,000 first-class runs at an average of 31.52. Despite Leicestershire’s relative success in 2016, Robson had a lean year and only mustered 732 runs across the campaign.
Leicestershire have only finished outside the bottom three of the County Championship once in the past decade and it has been 14 years since they played in the top division. No other side has been stuck in the second division for this long, and while CEO Wasim Khan MBE has been widely praised for his handling of the club’s affairs, Leicestershire fans are now looking to him to end their drought on the field. While the points deduction makes promotion unlikely, they will be hoping to build on the four victories they managed in 2016.
It is not immediately apparent where Robson will be heading next, but Wasim Khan has expressed his confidence that Leicestershire have the strength and depth in their squad to cope with Robson’s absence.
