alex milton hopes his recent fine form with the bat will bolster his chances of being part of the worcestershire first team during the finale to the season – and he is determined to “keep knocking on the door” with his performances.
the wicket-keeper batsman grabbed the chance presented after scoring two hundreds in the championship for the seconds against leicestershire and nottinghamshire by hitting a splendid 74 today against australia at New Road.
it was the perfect way to mark milton’s first senior appearance of 2019 after he made seven championship appearances last summer, scoring a century on his debut against somerset at the county’s headquarters.
he batted with great composure and discipline in adding 88 with charlie morris (53 not out) and an unbroken 38 with adam finch (18 not out) for the final two wickets.
milton said: “i didn’t start the season as well as i would have liked to (with the bat) and that was probably my downfall in terms of not playing any ‘ones’ (first team cricket).
“with that, i could understand why i haven’t been playing.
“but i’m coming into a little bit of form and i’m enjoying batting, knowing what works for me at the moment.
“i will just keep working away, knocking on the door (with performances) and see where we are.
“whether that is with the gloves or without the gloves, i’d just be happy to play in the ‘ones.’
“before this month, i hadn’t personally grabbed the chance. i’m just going to keep working away and then hopefully i will get that chance.
“this opportunity came up and i wanted to do well. i wanted to put my name in the hat for the first team again and i’m happy with how it went.
“but i’ve just got to keep working hard, keep scoring runs and, if i do that, hopefully i will get the chance again with the first team.
“i guess i’ve been going well in the seconds and this opportunity probably arose because of that.”
milton relished the opportunity to do battle with the likes of pace duo mitchell starc and josh hazlewood.
he said: “it was nice to get that experience, see what it was like at the top level and i just enjoyed being out there, i enjoyed the experience and that partnership with mozza.
“it was always going to be tricky and i went out with the mindset that whatever happens will happen. i just had prepare for it as well as i could.
“the heart was going at some points! it was more about enjoying the opportunity and embracing what was happening out there and it was great to get a few against an australian attack.
“how does it rank with the century on debut? it’s up there. my debut was obviously also a very good day.
“you’ve got to stay grounded and, if there is another opportunity, i’ve got to make sure i take that. that is how i’m looking at it.”
milton was greatly impressed with the contribution of morris who scored his maiden first class half century.
he said: “mozza played really well. he played shots he thought he could play and stuck to his game plan.
“he played the short ball really well against some real proper bowling and he is known as ‘the wall’! it was really impressive.”
