Worcestershire CCC will report back for pre-season training next month with an earlier than previous emphasis on honing their batting and bowling skills during the winter months.
The County players have in past years predominantly put a large accent on Strengthening And Conditioning work in the pre-Christmas period before starting regular net practice sessions at Malvern College in January.
But, while the S and C routines will continue to be an important part of preparations, there will also be plenty of batting and bowling in the College indoor nets with an accent on red ball cricket which is set to dominate the early season fixture list in 2020.
First Team Coach Alex Gidman confirmed: “Next year, the first two months is likely to be all red ball cricket so we would be naïve not to prepare for that.
“It makes sense to put our emphasis on the red ball cricket although we will obviously keep trying to up the skills with white ball cricket.
“But our focus will be on red ball cricket. Traditionally we’ve started hitting balls and bowling in mid January.
“This year we will be heading to Malvern College in November and starting to face a lot of deliveries and starting to learn about our methods against certain types of bowling.
“The bowlers are going to be doing a lot of work about executing skill over long periods of time. The players and I are all aware we’ve got to work really hard which they and I want to do.
“It’s a really exciting six months ahead in preparation for the 2020 season.”
The players will now have a four-month period from November through to the end of February where Malvern College will be their working base.
Gidman said: “It is our job, it’s my job, it’s the players job. It’s the winter. It’s what we’ve got to do, to look at how we can get better.
“There is no shortcuts to improving anything in life and you’ve got to work hard at it.
“Sometimes it’s ugly, sometimes it’s not very enjoyable but if we want to achieve as a group, as a club, what we want to, then that doesn’t happen just by chance.”
