Worcestershire Club Captain Brett D’Oliveira and Joe Leach are celebrating their third promotion with the club.
D’Oliveira and Leach were part of the squads for the 2014 and 2017 seasons when Worcestershire also went up into Division One of the County Championship.
The 2014 triumph will always be associated with what is known as Jack Shantry’s match when his century and 10 wickets enabled Worcestershire to defeat Surrey at New Road to seal promotion.
D’Oliveira played the one Championship game – he was a T20 Blast regular – but it was a breakthrough year for Leach who made the switch from top six batter to front line bowler and ended with 33 wickets.
Three years later they were again tasting success as Division Two champions after defeating Durham at New Road in the final game of the 2017 season.
Leach enjoyed a golden year with the ball, finishing with 69 wickets at 19.39.
D’Oliveira also made a weighty contribution with 891 Championship runs, including three centuries.
Now the long-serving duo will be competing in Division One for the third time with Leach again leading wicket-taker with 48 scalps and D’Oliveira scoring over 650 runs and producing some crucial knocks.
Leach said: “Each promotion has been unique and it’s been nice to do this one away from home, with all the lads staying together for the week and enjoying it as a team. Hopefully there won’t be any need for another one!”
