worcestershire ccc will select from a 12 strong squad for the bob willis trophy encounter with local rivals warwickshire beginning at New Road tomorrow (saturday).
the county will choose from the side which triumphed against northamptonshire at wantage road earlier this week plus paceman charlie morris.
morris played in the opening two matches of the campaign against gloucestershire at bristol and glamorgan at New Road and picked up a combined total of nine wickets.
he and ed barnard are closing in on 200 first class wickets. morris has taken 192 from 62 games in his career to date and barnard 196 in 63 matches.
head coach alex gidman is pleased with the way worcestershire have played in the opening trio of matches and they currently top the central group.
he said: “in the short term, the lads are playing the sort of cricket we’ve worked really hard to try and play.
“from that point of view it is extremely pleasing for them, the players, because they are the ones that are enjoying their cricket.
“they are playing well, are hard to beat, having not lost a game yet, and when you are playing well, scoring runs and taking wickets, you enjoy playing the game.”
riki wessels and daryl mitchell have excelled at first and second slip, however gidman is pleased with the catching in general.
he said: “once again it comes from hard work. i thought ed barnard’s catch to get rid of richard levi was outstanding.
“the slip fielding on that wicket was really crucial. we identified that there were going to be a lot of catches at slip. it tends to be where most of the dismissals are there particularly early in the game, the first two or three days.
“we’ve got vastly experienced catchers in riki and daryl. they are outstanding catchers along with ben cox – and also tom fell.
“we’ve got some drills which they enjoy and at the moment they are sticking.”
worcestershire ccc squad from;
mitchell
libby
fell
haynes
d’oliveira
wessels
cox (w)
barnard
leach ©
tongue
pennington
morris
