Several Worcestershire players will have the chance this week to recharge their batteries after three months of virtual non-stop action.
Worcestershire and Essex were the only two counties to play nine successive weeks of LV=Insurance County Championship action before heading straight into a solid block of Vitality Blast cricket.
But now, there is a week’s lull from first-team action before Friday’s home Blast encounter with Birmingham Bears.
Head Coach Alex Gidman is allowing some breathing space to those players not involved in the Seconds Championship match against Nottinghamshire.
Gidman said: “It’s been a long time coming, having more than a couple of days off.
“The lads need it mentally more than anything, just to get away from the game for a little bit.
“Having said that, there is a second-team game against Nottinghamshire, and we will start getting ready for the County Championship game against Warwickshire.
“We want to try and finish the group stage of the Championship as best as we can, so there is still a huge amount of cricket left in this season.
“It is important we do refresh, but equally, there will be several players that head up to Nottingham to start hitting and bowling some red balls again.”
Assistant Coach-Bowling Coach, Alan Richardson, echoed Gidman’s sentiments.
He said: “We will give guys a little bit of time away. The Seconds are playing in a red ball game, so some guys will go and play in that in getting ready for the next Championship game.
“The rest of the guys will just be topping up on their white-ball stuff at the end of the week, getting ready for the last three games.
“It was only us and Essex in the whole country who had to play all nine weeks, and that was incredibly tough, tougher than we ever thought it would be.
“It won’t feel like much of a break for some of them because we are right in the middle of it, getting towards the end of the Vitality Blast tournament, which is going to go down to the wire, we think.
“We also want to do as well as we can in the red ball and also getting ready for the 50 over stuff as well.
“It is non-stop, but the boys will have an opportunity to get away for three or four days, recharge the batteries and hopefully come back really strong for that little stretch coming up.”
