hamish rutherford will be bidding to boost his chances of finishing as the leading six-hitter in the group stages of the vitality blast when worcestershire rapids conclude their 2020 campaign against glamorgan at New Road tomorrow.
the new zealand opener has struck 15 sixes in this summer’s tournament – including five against birmingham bears at edgbaston on sunday.
rutherford has the fourth-highest tally in the vitality blast this summer with only ian cockbain (19), joe clarke (17) and stevie eskinazi (17) ahead of him after friday’s matches.
the 31-year-old has also been consistent and put together successive scores of 46, 41, 62 and 45 in his last four innings.
also, rutherford has the highest strike rate of any rapids batsmen in the tournament with 159.49.
rapids blast captain ed barnard said: “hamish has been brilliant up the top of the innings for us.
“he struck it cleanly again on friday (against birmingham bears). he has been very consistent for us and has been a great addition to our squad.”
the rapids aim to end the competition on a high and will be hoping for better luck with the weather against their welsh opponents after the wash-out of the opening game in the blast at cardiff.
barnard said: “it is another chance for the lads to impress and take some momentum into the winter.”
the all-rounder has put a challenging start to the campaign against
somerset at edgbaston behind him with a series of excellent performances with the ball.
barnard is the rapids leading wicket-taker with ten victims.
he said: “obviously it started with a bit of a horror show with the ball in this tournament, but i’ve been pretty pleased the last four or five games the way the ball has come out.”
the rapids have named an unchanged squad – the 11 players in action at edgbaston plus dillon pennington, tom fell and mitchell stanley.
