Worcestershire CCC batsman Jack Haynes has given his backing to Second Eleven Championship cricket switching from three to four-day matches this summer and mirroring the LV=Insurance County Championship.
Haynes has reaped the benefits with the additional time allowing him to amass scores of 165 versus Lancashire Seconds at Stourport and 177 against Nottinghamshire Seconds at Lady Bay Sports Club in Nottingham.
Both knocks were key to Haynes, with the first one helping him to seal a first-team return and the second enabling him to prove his fitness after injury.
He said: “We talk a lot as a side about doing things for an extended period, especially in red-ball cricket.
“Four-day cricket just allows that even more. In three-day cricket, you often have to set up games with declarations that are a bit earlier.
“The four-day matches actually give you the chance for a batsmen to get in and go big.
“Your bowlers can also put two or three spells together, which is beneficial and is exactly what you do in the first team.
“I think four-day Seconds cricket mirrors that, and it is exactly what we want.
Haynes big hundreds for the Seconds may have had to be curtailed had the matches been three day instead of four-day affairs.
He said: “I think it definitely helps if you can get the big scores. It puts your name in the hat because, obviously, you want to be pushing for first-team places.
“If you get a big hundred, and the four-day Seconds cricket allows the possibility of that happening, I think it is only beneficial.”
Haynes top-scored with 53 in Worcestershire’s total of 284 all out on day of the Second Eleven Championship match with Warwickshire at New Road.
Worcestershire are fielding a virtually full-strength team after the bulk of the players had a two-week break after the Royal London Cup campaign.
Haynes said: “It has felt a bit weird having a couple of weeks off in August, and it is great to be back out there and actually playing again.
“It was nice for a few of the lads to spend a bit of time out in the middle, and the bowlers will look to get a good run-out on Tuesday ahead of what is hopefully a good few weeks for us.
“There is a little bit of uneven bounce, and I think their bowlers got a fair bit out of it. We will be looking to do the same on Tuesday.”
