Worcestershire Head Coach Alan Richardson says “very adaptable and versatile cricketer” Ben Allison is capable of being a key member of the attack and that opportunities could present themselves for him to take the new ball.
Richardson is delighted the way Allison has settled into life and training at New Road this winter after making the permanent switch from Essex on a three-year contract after two successful loan spells.
He was part of the Worcestershire side which sealed promotion at the end of the 2023 season against Yorkshire at Headingley and last summer his five wickets played a big part in the superb away win over Durham.
He has been used primarily by Essex in the first or second change role in Championship cricket but Richardson sees a multi-talented player capable of filling many roles.
Richardson said: “He has settled in really well. It was obviously an advantage that Ben knew us, and we knew Ben before he signed.
“But it is still quite a big move in terms of upping sticks and going from where he lives in Essex to Worcester, which he has done really well with his partner.
“They have moved in and are now fully entrenched in Worcestershire life which is good and, in terms of the winter work he has done, it has been a pleasure to have him around.
“He fits into the group really well, which we knew, he is working really hard on his cricket, which we also knew he would do.
“With him now, I guess one of the big challenges for him is that his role changes from where he was at Essex.
“There was a bit of a support bowler, would play the odd game, and was frustratingly in and out of the side for him, to being someone who is probably going to get more opportunities with us just in the make-up of the squad and how we go about our cricket.
“The likelihood is, and the hope is, he will play a lot more first class cricket which is one of the reasons that he joined us.
“For him, that is going to be a real big challenge, and we’ve seen that happen with other players as well who have come from different counties and suddenly their role has changed quite a bit and how they adapt to that.
“So that will be a real nice challenge for Ben and one I’m sure he is looking forward to.”
In terms of his role in the attack, Richardson said: “What we find with Ben is that generally at Essex his role was as a first change, second change bowler.
“But we know that hopefully we will give him some experience, and there could be some opportunities for him to open the bowling with us.
“What we know with Ben is that he is a very adaptable and versatile cricketer so having him part of a five man attack, and whatever balance that is, is really important for us and he can play lots of different roles in that.
“I think he showed that in the Durham game. It was a really helpful for the bowlers at times but he exploited that and got some really important wickets and was really positive in how he went about his stuff and I think that is something that is really important for him.
“He was always pushing the game forward, or trying to push the game forward, which I think was really good.”
Allison also showed his potential with the bat against Yorkshire at Headingley when his 75 helped secure the bonus points needed to ensure promotion in September 2023.
Richardson said: “It is fairly untapped so far at Ben but we saw that potential when he played a really important innings for us at Headingley in the game we got promoted.
“I thought he played really well and again it will just be an opportunity for him. He will get exposed, probably a bit more with us to some different circumstances and different challenges, and I think he has got the character to take those on.
“I’ve talked about it plenty of times but it is really important that we contribute the whole way down and for those guys, sometimes we’ve seen them play some incredibly important innings for us.
“I just think back to Tom Taylor innings at Essex in the win there.
“A lot of the batters quite rightly took plaudits for their contributions to give us a chance to win the game but Tom and Amar Virdi’s partnership at the end in the first innings, when we were a little bit below par probably, was huge.
“Those contributions will always be hugely valued. I hope that the players appreciate that, and I’m sure they do, and the coaches certainly do, and that’s why we put in as much work as we can with all the players.”
