BBC SPORT | Cricket | Counties | Leicestershire | Whitaker yearns for simple life



Thrasy Petropoulos BBC Sport Online Cricket Writer

The world was a different place when James Whitaker first walked through the Grace Road gates to play for the 2nd XI.

Twenty-one years later he is leaving the club which he twice led to the County Championship, earning one Test cap in the process, before serving as a senior administrator for three seasons.

After being sidelined by injury during the second of the county's two Championship triumphs in the late 1990s, Whitaker was appointed secretary/manager.

The jobs that have given me the greatest buzz since playing have been the A tour and two under-19 tours

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It is from that position that he is to resign at the end of the season.

Fed up with trying to balance the books at a perennially cash-strapped club, Whitaker has pledged to return to coaching.

Whitaker quits Foxes

A position with another county side - possibly Hampshire - or within the England hierarchy beckons, although television work is also a possibility.

"I feel I contributed quite significantly within the England management at a junior level and we've had a quite a good record over the past couple of years at Leicester," Whitaker said.

"It is something that I have missed. Finding the players is one thing but helping them to be confident and improve the game is something else.

James Whitaker in Perth on the 1986/87 Ashes tour

"The jobs that have given me the greatest buzz since playing have been the A tour and two under-19 tours I was involved in."

As much as he has missed the involvement with the players, Whitaker has become increasingly frustrated by club's finances.

"There have been some complicated months," he said. "A small financial club like this is always going to have difficulties trying to get a reasonable team on the field and at the same time remain financially viable.

Competitive

"Three years ago we lost �150,000. We have managed to turn it around while maintaining a reasonable amount of stability and retain a competitive team, which is something I'm quite proud of.

"We had the disappointment of losing three senior players last year.

"I think the club is going to have a good long think about how it is going to stay competitive, both financially and on the field."

Leicestershire made a profit last year, but only because they reached the Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy final.

"In a few weeks' time I am sure it will feel like a huge wrench," Whitaker added.

"I am also very proud that for as long as the Championship and the Norwich Union League have been two divisions, we are one of only three clubs to have remained in the first division of both."

Darren Maddy, who played most of his career under Whitaker's captaincy, expressed the disappointment of the players.

"I've known Jim for the last ten years and he has done a fantastic job," he said. "It has come as a complete surprise.

"While he was in charge of the club you always felt that it had bright future.

"It was nice to have a friendly, familiar secretary that you could approach, not just to talk about batting or bowling issues but to have a general chat to."


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