Worcestershire Head Coach Alex Gidman is backing loan signing Matthew Waite to fill the gap left by Joe Leach’s absence through injury.
Waite is set to make his LV=Insurance County Championship debut against Leicestershire at New Road tomorrow.
The all-rounder has made the temporary switch from Yorkshire for the next two weeks after Leach suffered a back injury.
Gidman said: “That number eight role is a really important slot in terms of our balance of the team, and Joe is not only our main strike bowler with the new ball, but he has also scored a lot of runs.
“I guess we’ve missed that strength in our batting slightly, so Matthew will fill that void really, really well.
“Maybe he is a slightly different sort of bowler to Joe, but he is still a main strike bowler, so it is a nice little swap – if selected.”
Pace bowler Dillon Pennington is also back in contention to face Leicestershire after missing the games against Durham and Derbyshire with a hamstring injury.
Gidman confirmed: “Dillon has been nursing a little bit of an injury but has been working extremely hard to get back.
“He wasn’t quite ready for the game at Derby, but we are pretty confident that if he plays this week, he will be fine.”
Worcestershire will be playing their sixth Championship match in a hectic start to the campaign.
But Gidman said: “It is quite nice when you are in a good playing rhythm just to carry on. We are happy with the way we are performing.
“From that point of view, the boys are buzzing and looking forward to another challenge.
“We’re in a good place. We’ve had some good results, some good draws, some good bonus points, and we’re right in the mix.”
WORCESTERSHIRE (from):
Ed Pollock
Jake Libby
Azhar Ali
Jack Haynes
Brett D’Oliveira *
Ed Barnard
Ben Cox +
Matthew Waite
Josh Baker
Dillon Pennington
Charlie Morris
Ben Gibbon
