Foxes scent Hoggard signature

Matthew Hoggard was Yorkshire's leading wicket-taker in the LV= County Championship this season with 43

Leicestershire are hoping to hold talks with former England seamer Matthew Hoggard after his Yorkshire career came to an end yesterday.

Hoggard, 32, was released by Yorkshire after 15 years at Headingley Carnegie, with the bowler declaring himself hurt by the news.

And Leicestershire, who finished bottom of LV= County Championship Division Two, have become the first county to formally declare an interest in the 2005 Ashes hero.

Chief executive David Smith said: "We haven't spoken to him yet but we do want to talk to him.

"He is a player I have asked our head coach Tim Boon to try and speak to. Tim worked as (former England coach) Duncan Fletcher's assistant for several years and he knows Matthew quite well.

"We would like to speak to him about his intentions on continuing to play first-class cricket.

"It has only come about since yesterday and we're hoping to speak to him at some point in the next day or two.

"We'll take it from there, but he is a player of the calibre we are interested in."

Hoggard was Yorkshire's leading wicket-taker in the championship this year, with 43, and his hat-trick in the penultimate game against Sussex contributed significantly to the club's survival in Division One.

He has 248 wickets in 67 Tests but never enjoyed the same level of success in limited-overs cricket, playing just 26 one-day internationals and becoming an increasingly peripheral player in Yorkshire's one-day pursuits.

Should Hoggard opt to move to Grace Road it would represent a drop to the second tier of the championship but he may relish the prospect of mentoring a young Leicestershire squad, having said he was looking forward to performing a similar role with Yorkshire.