Adam Finch has been included in the Worcestershire Rapids squad for the opening Vitality Blast encounter with Glamorgan at Sophia Gardens tomorrow evening at 6.30pm
The paceman is part of a 13 strong squad after impressing while on loan to Surrey in the Bob Willis Trophy (BWT) matches with Essex and Kent.
The 20-year-old returned 4-38 in the second innings at Chelmsford and then 4-69 in the first innings versus Kent at The Kia Oval.
If he is named in the side, Finch will be making his Vitality Blast debut with all ten of his appearances in senior cricket to date in the first-class game.
Worcestershire Head Coach Alex Gidman said: “It has been great for him, a great experience to go away and play first and foremost but also go and play for a huge club.
“He has done really well. He has done himself and the club proud, and he has found another way of competing for a place at Worcestershire so, good on him, and he deserves his place in the squad.
“I think Surrey were impressed with him. It is an excellent place for Adam to go and bowl with the extra bounce you tend to get there with his height and pace.
“As a young bowler, going out on loan is not the easiest thing to do. It’s kind of sink or swim really. He has gone into an environment where he doesn’t know anyone, including any of the coaches.
“It is quite testing for some, but it was perfect for him and, even though it was a short experience, I’m sure it will be worthwhile in his cricket development.”
Jake Libby will be making his Blast debut for the Rapids and looking to continue the fine form he has shown in the Bob Willis Trophy in which he is the competition’s second-highest scorer with 417 runs.
Moeen Ali and Pat Brown are unavailable due to England white-ball commitments, but Gidman is looking forward to seeing how players with less T20 experience deal with the challenges ahead.
He said: “From a coaches point of view, it’s exciting. We get to give some opportunities to players who perhaps might not have had those opportunities.
“Ten games is a lot of T20 cricket, so it’s going to be a lot of exposure for one, two, three, four players but they are coming into an environment that is used to winning, used to being successful, so it is a very healthy team to come into.
“I’m looking forward to watching those inexperienced-younger players being around the experienced players, and hopefully they enjoy it and contribute to some victories.”
All-rounder Ed Barnard will captain the side at Cardiff and will do so in all Blast games this summer when Moeen is unavailable.
Like all counties, Worcestershire have had limited T20 practice sessions because of the Bob Willis Trophy taking centre stage for the past month with four rounds in succession.
Gidman said: “It’s been challenging from that point of view. We had a squad practice last Thursday. Usually, you get a couple of warm-up games or a few weeks to get ready for it.
“But it’s probably fair to say everyone is in the same boat. The four-day cricket was about teams doing the simple things as well as they can, and it’s going to be the same with the T20.
“We will try and execute some simple plans as well as we can, and I believe fully in our group that if we do that, we will have an excellent chance of winning a lot of games.
“Like any other team, if we don’t do those simple things as well as we can, then we’ve got a chance of coming unstuck.”
