New signing Adam Hose wants to make his mark in red and white ball cricket with Worcestershire and says competing for white ball silverware and becoming established in Division One of the LV=Insurance County Championship are realistic ambitions.
Hose will start training at New Road next week after signing a three-year contract with Worcestershire and making a move from local rivals Warwickshire.
He hopes to emulate his ex-Warwickshire team-mate Ed Pollock and have the chance to play more four-day cricket after limited opportunities during the past few years.
But Hose is also keen to help the Rapids regain the successful formula that saw them win the 2018 Vitality Blast and finish runners-up the following year. He was the competition’s third-highest scorer this summer with 569 runs at a strike rate of nearly 161.
Hose, in his first major interview since moving to Worcestershire, said: “The initial attraction probably came from the opportunities in red-ball that I felt were pretty limited, and it has been a frustrating couple of years in terms of red-ball stuff at Warwickshire.
“I’m still striving to be the best player I can be in terms of an all-round format player, and I saw the likelihood of that happening more by making the move to Worcestershire.
“I’ve got no interest in going down a one-format route at the moment. For me to continue to strive to be the best I can be, that is about spending as much time as I can in the middle, and it doesn’t matter what colour the ball is.
“Like I said, it’s been a little bit frustrating, and I’ve got to look forward now, and hopefully, I can earn the opportunities to go out and do that with Worcestershire.”
Hose said he was ready for a new challenge and is delighted to have that opportunity at New Road.
He said: “It is a new chapter. It’s one I’ve been very excited about for a while now, a good couple of months.
“Was the time right for a new challenge? Definitely, I’ve been thinking about it for a while, to be honest and the right opportunity hadn’t necessarily come up.
“It was a difficult decision to leave Warwickshire, but I’ve got this opportunity in front of me, and I’m looking forward.”
Hose says Pollock was a big help when deciding to follow him to Worcestershire.
He said: “Ed is a really good friend of mine, and his family live in the village next door to me. When our schedules allow, we go for a coffee and play a bit of golf.
“I chatted with him and asked a few questions of him, and he was really good with that whole decision-making process and helped me a lot.”
Although keen to make his mark in the red ball game, Hose is keen to play a big part for the Rapids in the Blast.
He said: “I think my natural game is inclined more towards more towards white ball cricket.
“There is no reason why Worcestershire can’t be successful again in the Blast. Last year in the white ball was a bit of a tough year.
“It is really important everyone reflects on that, and we put in place the things we potentially see as for room for improvement, and we get back to where we know we can be.”
Hose, whose heroes growing up included Kevin Pietersen, Jacques Kallis and AB de Villiers, is to play in the T10 League in Abu Dhabi and then the Big Bash League before Christmas.
But he is looking forward to being acquainted with his new teammates before heading abroad.
He said: “The lads are all back in officially on November 14 and I will spend a week then doing some fitness testing and maybe a bit of batting.
“But I’m in from next week in preparation for going away in the middle of November, and I’m sure a few of the guys will be knocking around.
“I’ve seen them in the gym this week, and are a good bunch it’s a case of me getting in their environment, and we are no longer rivals, we are team-mates, and trying to break that barrier down, and it’s all good fun.”
So what are Hose’s ambitions for the first three years with Worcestershire?
He said: “I don’t see any reason why we can’t get back into silverware contention in the white ball cricket. I don’t see any reason why we can’t compete at finals day in the coming years.
“In the red ball stuff, getting back into Division One, and securing a place there, and competing in that league would be a really great achievement because it’s really tough cricket.
“It’s really hard to get out of Division Two already but to stay in Division One is hard work. If we can stay and compete in Division One…I don’t see why that shouldn’t be an ambition of the club.”
