Only the championship leaders, Derbyshire, whom they trail by 17 points with a game in hand, play their home games in front of fewer people, but no matter if the only differ- ence between Grace Road and the surface of the moon is that the latter has more atmosphere, Leicestershire's players will not be short on adrenalin as they push for domestic cricket's most prestigious title.
There might be a good deal more tangible evidence of local support were the city not saddled with one of those local newspapers convinced that a footballer blowing his nose is worth more of a headline than a cricketer scoring a century, but Leicestershire's captain, James Whitaker, is not unduly bothered. ``It would be lovely if we did get some decent crowds in midweek, but it doesn't make any differ- ence to how keen the players are to win this thing,'' he said.
Whitaker, who returns for the match against Hampshire tomorrow after missing the last two games with a calf injury, is regarded as the biggest single influence in Leicestershire's challenge this summer. Capped by England for the first and only time in Australia 10 years ago, the 34-year-old Yorkshire-born batsman has finally rediscovered his focus with the captaincy after a decade of per- sonal underachievement.
He has many times been tempted to follow the likes of Phillip DeFreitas, Chris Lewis, Nick Cook and David Gower through the player-exit gate, and turned down the chance to captain Somerset two years ago. However, since inheriting the captaincy from Nigel Briers last winter, Whitaker's uncomplicated approach to cricket - the first three balls he ever faced from the then-in-his-pomp Ian Botham disappeared for four - has rubbed off on his team.
Briers, a schoolteacher, was a naturally cautious pilot, while Whitaker, son of a wealthy chocolate manufac- turer, is more inclined to fly by the seat of his pants. He is also less autocratic, embracing the notion that there are 11 players all in this together, and all worthy of an audience. ``Collective responsibility is my idea of getting the best from individuals,'' he said.
During the match against Worcestershire at Grace Road, Whitaker was busy conducting one of his regular on-the-field conferences under the umpiring eye of a former cap- tain of his, Peter Willey.
Willey, whose own idea of consultation generally involved hanging a player by his collar from a dressing-room peg, came out with a sarcastic ``Who the hell's in charge around here?'' to which Whitaker promptly responded: ``We are. Take a look at the scoreboard.''
There is, though, a harder edge to Whitaker's cap- taincy, as pace bowler David Millns discovered in a match at Edgbaston. Millns threw a bit of a wobbler when he was not given choice of ends, and although his absence from the next game was officially given out as an injury, Whitaker dropped him.
Whitaker had also been lobbying for a couple of seasons to move Vince Wells up the batting order to a special- ist position, and backed his judgment by promoting Wells to open early in the season.
Wells, originally signed from Kent as a player who bowled a bit, batted a bit, and kept wicket a bit, made two double centuries and 197 in six days.
Phil Simmons, the West Indian Test player, has also had a major impact, not least with his bowling when Alan Mullally has been on Test duty. Simmons irritates opponents with a geeing up routine involving near non-stop rattle and hand-clapping from the slips, but as far as Leicestershire are concerned, it is indicative of his commitment to the team.
Jack Birkenshaw, the cricket manager, was a member of Leicestershire's only championship-winning squad, in 1975, captained by Raymond Illingworth, and containing players of the calibre of Graham McKenzie, Ken Higgs and Brian Davison. Birkenshaw is in little doubt that the 1975 side were a better one, but inferior to the 1996 version in terms of team spirit.
``All the players love each other,'' said Birkenshaw, doubtless still harbouring memories of Illy only asking him to bowl when the pitch was not turning. In those days, a local character known as 'Foghorn' would regularly cir- cuit the ground clutching (or, to be more accurate, spil- ling) a pint of mild, shouting: ``Get Birky on to bowl!''
Birkenshaw said: ``In 1975 we had players who knew how to win, but this lot have gelled in a team of lesser indi- vidual talents. Jimmy [Whitaker] is an inventive captain, Simmons has been brilliant, and a championship this year would be a better achievement than 1975.''
If Leicestershire are looking for omens, their only defeat this season has been to Surrey at the Oval, as it was in 1975. Birkenshaw said: ``If we bottle it, we bottle it, but we're certainly going to give it a crack. One of half-a-dozen sides could win it, and I don't see why it can't be us.''