Worcestershire CCC pace duo Charlie Morris and Dillon Pennington are back in contention for the LV=Insurance County Championship match with Derbyshire at the Incora County Ground, which begins tomorrow (Thursday).
Morris was forced to pull out of contention for the home draw against Durham because of a stomach bug.
Pennington was also unavailable for that game with a hamstring injury sustained against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge.
But Worcestershire Head Coach, Alex Gidman, confirmed the fit-again duo have been added to the 11 on duty against Durham.
He said: “It’s nice to have the options available again and, with Ben (Gibbon) and Adam (Finch) performing pretty well last week, it’s obviously put us in a good position again (numbers-wise).”
Gidman has been pleased with performances in the opening quartet of games against Leicestershire, Sussex, Nottinghamshire and Durham.
Only the loss of a day’s play prevented them from defeating Leicestershire before overcoming Sussex, and then they were involved in two close tussles with Nottinghamshire and Durham.
Gidman said: “We’ve had four games, the first two games we’ve played extremely well in and beat, or came close to beating, teams on an even keel with us in terms of where they would see themselves.
“We’ve had two really tough tests, two weeks ago (versus Nottinghamshire) and last week, and our performances have been outstanding.
“Obviously, we haven’t managed to get a win in those games, but there is no disgrace in the way the lads have performed at all.
“We can’t win them all but really impressed with how we’ve shown some wonderful characteristics and behaviours during those two games and competed very hard against two very good teams.
“We’ve had some tough games against Durham and Nottinghamshire during the past couple of years, and they’ve put us to the sword a little bit, but hopefully, it shows the signs of the improvement.
“From a coaches perspective, you want the results, but it’s equally important you see the guys improving and performing, and the two performances have shown the improvement within the group.”
With Azhar Ali and Jack Haynes shining on the final day against Durham, all of Worcestershire’s front-line batters and middle to lower order have all chalked up impressive scores at different stages.
Gidman said: “There have been some nice batting conditions around the country, not just here at New Road.
“There have been lots of games going into the final day, very dry weather, we’ve barely had any rain, so you would think that would favour batting.
“But equally, the batters have got to do it, go out there and perform, and we’ve dovetailed really, really well, and different individuals and pairs have stood up throughout the season.”
Derbyshire are the only undefeated side in Division Two with one win and three draws from their opening four games.
WORCESTERSHIRE (FROM)
Jake Libby
Ed Pollock
Azhar Ali
Jack Haynes
Brett D’Oliveira *
Ed Barnard
Ben Cox +
Joe Leach
Josh Baker
Adam Finch
Ben Gibbon
Charlie Morris
Dillon Pennington
