Head Coach Alan Richardson has urged Worcestershire Rapids to embrace the challenge facing them in Sunday’s winner takes all Vitality Blast encounter with Derbyshire Falcons at the Incora County Ground.
The Rapids tie with Durham at New Road on Friday evening means their destiny remains in their own hands in the battle for a quarter-final spot.
Victory over the Falcons will ensure that objective is realised whatever happens elsewhere in the North Group.
Richardson said: “We said at the start of the competition we thought we might go into the last game of the competition needing to win and so it’s proved.
“That’s something we would have taken at the start of the competition, especially after the way we went last season, and now we have got to really embrace it.
“We’re really looking forward to Sunday. We have put some good performances together during the group stages and have competed throughout.
“We go into the game at Derby knowing we have got some really good cricket behind us.”
Captain Brett D’Oliveira says the Rapids will adopt the same approach as has been evident throughout the competition
He said: “Our destiny is in our own hands and we will go to Derby full of confidence trying to get that win
“We spoke at the start of the year about wanting to get to knockout cricket, to get to finals day and, once you get to that stage, anyone can win the games.
“We’ve pretty much got a knockout game on Sunday so we are excited about that.
“The approach will be the same as all the way through the campaign, nice and aggressive. We look to hit the ball out of the ground, take wickets and hold our catches
“It is quite a big game, the sort of games you look forward to, and that’s when you find out a lot about people and that is really quite exciting
“I’m looking forward to that and know there are 10 other guys in that changing room looking forward to it as well.”
Worcestershire Rapids squad
Brett D’Oliveira ©
Jack Haynes
Mitchell Santner
Adam Hose
Kashif Ali
Ben Cox (W)
Ed Pollock
Usama Mir
Matthew Waite
Dillon Pennington
Pat Brown
Adam Finch
Jake Libby
Ben Gibbon
