Lewis Hill has revealed that the stress of captaining Leicestershire led to significant hair loss, which ultimately prompted him to step down as the club’s captain at the end of the 2023 season.
The 34-year-old led the Foxes to victory in the One-Day Cup in 2023, marking a successful two-year tenure as captain. Under his leadership, Leicestershire reached the semi-finals in defense of their title in 2024, and they finished fifth in the County Championship’s second division, securing one win and 10 draws from 14 red-ball matches.
However, Hill admitted that the pressure of the captaincy took a toll on his health, particularly his hair. “I had a few health things going on with my hair falling out,” Hill said in an interview with BBC Radio Leicestershire. “I gave it my all as captain, and probably a little too much in the end, because it affected my lifestyle and health.”
The strain of leadership, which involved constantly managing the well-being of his teammates and worrying about selections, led to Hill neglecting his own self-care. “When you are captain you think about so many things, look after so many people in the team, and you are worried about how people are if they get selected or don’t get selected,” he explained. “I just kind of lost the sense of looking after myself a little bit.”
Hill, who has battled alopecia in the past, said that stress was the main factor contributing to his hair loss. Alopecia, a condition that causes hair loss, can vary in severity, affecting everything from small patches of hair to total baldness. Hill wore caps to hide the visible patches of hair loss and recalled that the condition had resurfaced multiple times in his life.
“I’ve had alopecia three times in my life – when I was at school, then four or five years ago just before I got married,” Hill shared. “Stress is kind of the main thing, but they don’t actually know why, which is a weird thing.”
He added, “When you have something like that, I wear a cap every day and people ask ‘why are you wearing a cap?’ I probably didn’t deal with it. I just tried to crack on with things when I should have sat down and thought about it a bit deeper.”
Since stepping down from the captaincy, Hill has been able to refocus on his batting. Reflecting on the decision, he said, “I picked up my cricket bats in September and I went around to my mum and dad’s house and put them in the spare room. I didn’t have a single cricket bat in my house until January, and in those few months, I really reflected on the couple of years I had the captaincy.”
Hill made a strong return to cricket this season, top-scoring with 96 in Leicestershire’s opening County Championship match against Glamorgan, a 10-wicket win. His performance marked a significant improvement from last season, where he scored just 431 red-ball runs, a stark contrast to the 880 runs he accumulated in 2023.
“It took my hair, but luckily I’ve got it back this year, just like how my batting has come back,” Hill remarked, reflecting on his personal and professional recovery.
Despite stepping down, Hill has no regrets about relinquishing the captaincy. “People ask if I’m sad that I gave the captaincy away, and I say no because it was the best for myself and the team,” he said. “Pete [Handscomb] is a great guy and leader, so there was somebody there to take the reins straight away.”
Hill expressed his gratitude for the opportunity to captain Leicestershire, calling the experience amazing but acknowledging that it was the right time for him to step down and focus on his batting.
Leicestershire will play their first home match of the county season against Derbyshire on Friday, April 11.
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