Jake Libby praised the calming influence on him of Daryl Mitchell after he made an excellent start to his Worcestershire CCC career against Gloucestershire in the Bob Willis Trophy at Bristol.
Libby admitted to feeling nervous ahead of his County debut after his winter move from Nottinghamshire but Mitchell helped him to settle down and he went onto make a composed 77.
The pair shared in a partnership of 152 to put Worcestershire in command at the half-way stage of the game.
Libby, who struck 10 fours in his 181 ball knock, said: “It was nice to get some runs on my debut and build a partnership with Daryl like that as well.
I’ve obviously played quite a bit against Daryl over the years and he is a fine player, a great person you can learn off, and at the crease he is just so calm and great to bat with.
“He settled me down. There were a few nerves with it being my debut and you want to impress and show what you can do.
“I know there were no spectators but plenty of people would have been watching the live stream and I’ve received a message from my family.”
Libby says Worcestershire will be looking to press home their strong position in the remaining 38 of their permitted 120 overs.
He said: “The first two days, we’ve done really well. They did well the first two sessions yesterday but we fought back last night and to knock them over this morning for 267 is a great start for us.
“We are in a great position to hopefully kick on. We’ve got players who can come in and play attacking and hopefully we can build a decent first innings lead and really put them under pressure on days three and four.
“It is quite a good wicket to bat on. It’s a slow pitch so it is hard to score on so accelerating the game is going to be difficult.
“I think it will go a little bit up and down with the bounce and we’ve got the bowlers to exploit that.
“With the 120 over rule, we are going to have do things a slightly different way but with people like Riki Wessels and a few other lads to come in still against an old ball, there is no reason why we can’t get a decent lead.”
