Former Lancashire all-rounder Luis Reece has today signed a two-year deal at Derbyshire. We take a look at his career to date.
Born in Taunton, Somerset, in 1990, Reece made his first steps into cricket when he played for Lancashire Second XI in 2007 at the age of 17, and was offered a place on the Red Rose Academy in the following year.
He was however, not initially offered professional terms at Lancashire, and moved to University where his cricket career began to pick up pace.
In 2011 and 2012, Reece began playing for the Unicorns and made his List A debut against the Lightning. Impressive performances across two years at the Unicorns landed him a scholarship deal back at Lancashire.
Whilst at University, the left-arm bowler turned out for Leeds/Bradford MCCU, alongside now Derbyshire teammate Ben Slater, and made his first-class debut in 2012.
Reece earned local newspaper headlines when, playing against Sussex, claimed 7-21, and at one stage had the incredible figures of 5-0 from five overs.
REECE: “Speaking to the Club, they have exciting ambitions for the years ahead and I can’t wait to get started.”#P2bD pic.twitter.com/aC3Imn3fu1
— Derbyshire CCC (@DerbyshireCCC) October 7, 2016
In early 2013, the top-order batsman scored a double-century for Lancashire Second XI, before then hitting 41 and 77 against his county in a first-class match for the University.
That earned him his County Championship debut the following week in a victory over Essex and further eye-catching performances saw him tipped for a place on the England Performance Programme.
That season, he played 10 matches, finishing with 722 runs at an average of 55.53, including eight half-centuries. Seven of his fifties even came in successive innings.
Injury, however, blighted his 2014 and 2015 campaigns after he had begun 2014 on a high playing for the MCC in the Champion County match in Abu Dhabi.
Reece was released from his Lancashire contract at the conclusion of the 2016 campaign and has signed a two-year deal at Derbyshire and arrives with a first-class batting average of 32.67, in addition to 22 wickets at first-team level.
Join us for the 2017 season. Membership will go on sale at 10am on Wednesday 19 October and the day/night first-class tour fixture versus West Indies is included. Full details to follow.
