Tuesday, January 10th, 2023

DUAL CAPTAINCY ROLE FOR D’OLIVEIRA WHILE LIBBY LEADS SIDE IN ONE-DAY CUP

Worcestershire Club Captain, Brett D’Oliveira, is to skipper the side in the Vitality Blast in addition to the LV=Insurance County Championship next summer.

Red ball vice-captain, Jake Libby, will lead the team in the Royal London Cup, batter Jack Haynes being appointed white ball vice-captain.

D’Oliveira takes over as Blast captain from Moeen Ali and has previous experience in the role when the England all-rounder was on international duty.

He was captain for seven matches in 2018 when Worcestershire won the tournament for the first time.

D’Oliveira’s appointment will provide continuity in the role after Moeen, Ben Cox, and Colin Munro captained the T20 side during the 2022 campaign.

He said: “Last year i wanted to focus solely on the four-day stuff after taking over as Club Captain, and now I’m really looking forward to leading the T20 side too. It’s another challenge for me.

“I really enjoyed it when I did it last time. Looking back at 2018, when you are playing in it, you don’t actually realise the calibre of players you are playing alongside.

“We were so fortunate in terms of the guys we had playing, a lot of international guys, and guys who gained a lot of experience in domestic T20.

“The side sort of captained itself, and I didn’t have to do much other than just send a few messages and decide who to bowl where and when, and I had a lot of help around me.

“This presents a different challenge, and I feel we are trying to change how we will play our T20 cricket a little bit. If we were brutally honest, we weren’t anywhere near good enough last year.

“It presents a different challenge but one I am really excited about. Having the continuity of one captain is also beneficial, and that’s something myself, Alan and Kadeer (Ali) identified.

“It is really hard when you’ve got three different people captaining one competition for various reasons. It’s no one’s fault, just the way it panned out.

“But continuity can be great for the boys and hopefully give them a greater clarity as to how we want to play our cricket.”

D’Oliveira is also delighted with the new roles handed to Libby and Haynes.

He said: “Jake taking over the One Day Cup captaincy is a great opportunity for him to develop his leadership skills, and that allows me just to play as a batter-bowler in that competition and freshen up the mind, which is exactly what Alan (Richardson) said to me.

“Jack taking over as white ball vice-captain, I just felt he was in a great place with his own game, and I appreciate he has got a lot of work to do in terms of keep progressing and working hard because he has got aspirations to go higher, which I’m sure he will if he continues the way he has.

“But he speaks really well, has a great head on his shoulders and will be great to be involved in conversations about leadership.”

Libby was captain for seven games in the 2022 One Day Cup after D’Oliveira was selected for The Hundred following the opening match versus Kent.

The opening batter has also led Worcestershire in County Championship matches at New Road against Essex (2021) and Derbyshire last summer.

Libby said: “It is an excellent opportunity for me to keep learning and get as much captaincy experience under my belt as possible.

“I enjoyed leading the side in the One Day Cup last summer. We lost quite a few numbers in our bowling options, so it was a challenge at times.

“But I enjoyed the leadership aspects of it, and it is a great privilege to do it and something I want to do more of.

“To be honest, I’ve done quite a lot of captaincy. I did it through all my Uni years at MCC, and I did a lot of Nottinghamshire Seconds but not at first class level, which is where you will learn the best from it.

“Being white ball vice-captain is a great opportunity for Jack, and he has got a really good cricket brain, and it’s something he can learn from.

“I have quite a lot of cricket chats with him anyway, so it will be good to run things through with him.”

Haynes will have the ideal opportunity to learn off D’Oliveira and Libby in his white-ball vice-captaincy role.

In the past, he has skippered Worcestershire at Under-14, Under-15, and Under-17 levels and also the Midlands at the Bunburys and Super Fours tournaments.

He said: “Very proud as a Worcester lad and chuffed to be given this role and the experience it will provide. It’s a bit different, but Im really looking forward to it.

“Hopefully, it will give me a lot of different learning experiences. I’m looking forward to learning from Brett and Jake, both very experienced players.

“It’s been a while since I was a captain, but I’m always thinking about the game and will pick up things from both the captains and go from there.”