Amar Virdi will make his Worcestershire debut in the Vitality County Championship encounter with Durham at the Seat Unique Riverside tomorrow (Sunday) with Head Coach Alan Richardson stressing the important of having an experienced spin option to call upon.
Virdi has joined Worcestershire on loan for from Surrey for the match between the two sides promoted from Division Two at the end of last summer.
He replaces on loan Somerset spinner Shoaib Bashir who was part of the Worcestershire side for the previous month, including the Championship meeting with Surrey at Visit Worcestershire New Road.
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Virdi, 25, has taken 123 wickets in 41 first class games and in 2017 himself, Sam Curran, Ollie Pope and Ryan Patel became the first quartet of teenagers to play for a county since World War Two when turning out for Surrey against Middlesex.
He has represented England at Under-19 level and selected for a Lions tour of Australia in addition to being parts of England training and as a reserve for squads against the West Indies, Sri Lanka and India.
Richardson said: “Amar has had a lot of experience, represented England Lions but not quite getting the opportunities he would like with Surrey at the moment.
“Bash came in and the boys loved having him around and Amar gives us some nice balance moving forward into the Durham game
“Spinners can have quite an effect in games and Amar has proven he can win matches before and we are hoping there will be an opportunity for him to do that for us.”
New Zealand pace bowler Nathan Smith returns to the Worcestershire side against Durham after being rested against Surrey, but Adam Finch misses out through injury.
Richardson said: “Nathan has had an amazing impact on and off the field but we always knew we had to look after him when he signed.
“It is not reasonable to expect him to play every game and no quick bowler in the country is doing that.
“Wellington rested him in the winter and we said we would look after him. He was going to miss either the Surrey or Durham game and now he will be fit and firing for Durham.”
Worcestershire will be looking to turn the tables on Durham after losing the meeting at Kidderminster in April.
Richardson said: “Durham played very well in that game and this will be a nice test for us going forward.
“They were the stand out team in Division Two last year.”
Worcestershire Squad
2 Jake Libby
6 Matthew Waite
9 Gareth Roderick (w)
11 Rehaan Edavalath
12 Tom Taylor
15 Brett D’Oliveira ©
19 Amar Virdi
20 Nathan Smith
27 Kashif Ali
41 Harry Darley
54 Adam Hose
65 Ben Allison
77 Ethan Brookes
88 Rob Jones
