We have a busy bank holiday weekend of cricket ahead of us starting tomorrow with the hugely anticipated, sold-out derby fixture against Birmingham Bears and then hosting the Central Sparks on Saturday before our Jubilee Celebration game against Leicestershire on Sunday.
The Rapids have been dealt the toughest of early fixtures, perplexingly so, with four away games to start the competition.
Some good individual performances don’t mask our clear collective disappointment, and it has clearly not gone as well as we had hoped so far. I’ve repeatedly said the table never lies – hopefully, that will change soon, and we still have ten games to go. We now have seven home fixtures and three away games. Whilst it’s been a poor start for us, in 2019, we won six matches to get through and ultimately reach finals day, so anything is still possible.
Hopefully, a sold-out New Road tomorrow with our supporters and members getting behind our team is just the tonic needed to see a shift in momentum.
Every Club, in a far from similar, one size fits all way, is impacted by the increasingly difficult international and franchise cricket calendar, visa and international clearance delays, and injury issues.
We’re delighted to be able to finally welcome back Moeen Ali to the squad for our first home fixture. It’s been a hectic cricket schedule for him, including some recent injury niggles during the IPL, which, of course, has needed to be managed from a workload perspective and as an England contracted player.
Some England players at other counties have been available from the start of the Vitality Blast and will take a break later in the calendar, whilst others were rested at the start of the tournament. A fully fit and firing on all cylinders Moeen Ali is a huge benefit to the whole team, and we’re all looking forward to seeing him in action on Friday.
We all warmly applaud Moeen and his family on a richly deserved OBE award in the Queen’s Birthday Honours, a fitting recognition of the considerable work he does to promote cricket and make it a game for all.
Dwayne Bravo also joins us for tomorrow’s fixture, having arrived in the UK yesterday. He, too, joins us following the completion of his IPL schedule and has now overcome a recent injury. We welcome him to New Road, and I am sure the two-time World Cup winner will add his trademark flair and excitement to our cricket and make a significant impact on the field.
We hope you enjoy the forthcoming games and thank you once again for your support of our Club.
Fanos Hira
Chair
Worcestershire County Cricket Club
