Vince Wells of Leicestershire has been stripped of the captaincy despite leading the side with a good deal of success since he took over the post from current chief executive James Whitaker. Not only have Leicestershire retained their Division One place in both the championship and one-day league, they were runners-up in both the one-day league and the C&G Trophy in 2001.

Wells joined Leicestershire from Kent for the 1992 season and, as well as taking over the captaincy, has been a genuine all-rounder. He has scored nearly nine thousand first-class runs at an average of 33.68 and taken 280 wickets at 26.44 each with his medium pace bowling. It was, however, his performances in limited overs cricket that attracted him to the England selectors. He played in nine one-day internationals with reasonable success and was included in the 1999 World Cup squad, not only as an all-rounder but also as deputy wicket-keeper.

He missed some matches last season through injury and was replaced by Iain Sutcliffe who impressed the Leicestershire management with his captaincy. The former Oxford University left-handed opening batsman has been given a new three-year contract but has yet to decide on whether he wants to accept the offer of the captaincy. Wells has been offered a new one-year contract to remain as a player with the county.

Virender Sehwag is one of the overseas players targeted by Leicestershire for next season, but there is no place in their plans for wicket-keeper Neil Burns. The 37 year-old topped the list of dismissals in Division One of the county championship with 63 and was second in the overall standings. He also scored 720 first-class runs at an average of 32.72.

With the departure of Burns, who played for both Essex and Somerset earlier in his career, and second team 'keeper Stephen Adshead, it appears that the door might have been opened for Paul Nixon to go back to the team for which he played most of his cricket. He played for the county between 1989 and 1999 before moving to Kent. Despite his contributions to that county's fortunes, he was asked to take a pay cut and has now departed, leaving him free to return to Leicestershire.

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