Worcestershire First Team Coach Alex Gidman felt young paceman Alex Finch exceeded all realistic expectations with his first innings performance against Sussex in the drawn Specsavers County Championship match at Kidderminster.
Finch made his debut in the rain-ruined home clash with Lancashire and was only able to bowl 5.2 overs.
But Chester Road represented his first opportunity to have an elongated bowl and he instantly slotted in with the new ball and collected his first senior scalp in dismissing Sussex opener Will Beer.
Figures of 18-1-45-1 were fully deserved as he bowled an excellent line and length and troubled several batsmen including Sussex’s in form captain Ben Brown who survived a confident appeal for caught behind.
Understandably he tired a little in the second innings when injuries to Wayne Parnell and club captain Joe Leach meant a heavier workload for the remaining bowlers.
But the potential was there for all to see as Finch followed the likes of Josh Tongue (2017) and Dillon Pennington (2018) in part of a conveyor belt of promising fast bowling talent graduating from the Academy.
Gidman said: “When you get young players in, we’ve all got to have realistic expectation levels and I thought Adam exceeded those in the first innings.
“I thought he was brilliant and just looked part of it, looked as if he had played a handful of games, not just half a game (against Lancashire).
“You expect dips in form and rhythm and stuff even throughout a game and we saw that.
“The fatigue set in and he obviously had a bit more of a workload with Wayne injured than what we would have liked.
“But that’s the professional game. He knows that. He is a quick learner and I thought he did really well and showed a huge amount of promise.”
Gidman’s sentiments were echoed by Worcestershire club captain Joe Leach.
He said: “Finchy has come into the side and done really well and it’s testament to that group of young seamers who keep pushing each other and who seem to keep taking to the stage kind of seamlessly.
“They are a highly talented group and Adam was very impressive. He bowled with good pace and control and he looked very threatening.
“I’m sure he will be very happy with his performance. He’s obviously got a long way to go to recreate that consistency and do it week in and week out but it’s been really good signs for the start of his career.”
