Adam Hose says Worcestershire should take “fantastic confidence” heading into the Vitality Blast after their superb win over Leicestershire in the LV=Insurance County Championship at New Road.
Hose hit an excellent 84 as Worcestershire chased down a demanding 271 target to win by three wickets.
His fourth-wicket stand of 131 with Gareth Roderick (59) laid the foundations for Club Captain Brett D’Oliveira, Matthew Waite and Adam Finch to complete the task.
It completed a remarkable turnaround in fortunes after Worcestershire had experienced a challenging opening day as they gear up for Wednesday’s opening Blast encounter against Northamptonshire Steelbacks at Wantage Road.
Hose said: “As a squad, it should give us a real nice boost heading in the Blast. Hopefully, the arrival of a few overseas players into the team will give us some good experience again.
“But overall, it should give us fantastic confidence going into the next few weeks.
“I try not to change too much from format to format, just clear my mind and see the ball, hit the ball. It’s something I’ve worked really hard on.
“I haven’t given the white ball game too much thought. I’ve been focusing on the red ball skills but really excited for the next couple of weeks, that’s for sure.”
Hose praised the way Worcestershire fought back against Leicestershire to clinch a second Championship win of the summer.
He said: “Awesome. The first day was one of the toughest days of my career that I could think of.
“Then the absolute rollercoaster of a three-day game, and we come out with the right result, and today would be one of the better feelings that I’ve had on the pitch.
“Tremendous all-round performance. I thought the bowlers did a fantastic job on day two to get us back in the game.
“Even then it was going to be a tough ask but some real good commitment and composure shown through the batting order and just ecstatic to get over the line.
“The biggest thing for me, when I look back over the three days, is just the character shown.
“There is no hiding behind the fact that we’ve had some pretty tough days over the last couple of months, especially as a batting unit.
“To be able to come out here and chase 270 on a pretty challenging pitch is really pleasing from a team point of view, and especially from a batters unit point of view.”
Hose and Roderick, who batted five hours for his 59, complimented each other perfectly in a decisive stand.
He said: “It was tough. I felt like I was got out today. I didn’t give it away, and the character of the pitch throughout kept you pretty honest as a batter, and you never quite felt you were in.
“But from my point of view, I just wanted to go out and express my natural intent, which is to take the game forward, and fortunately, I was able to do that.
“Myself and Gareth fed off each other really nicely. He played a real patience game and wore the bowlers down and, where I could, I tried to capitalise, and that balance worked nicely.”
