Head Coach Alan Richardson has stressed the importance of Worcestershire continuing to focus on their own performances and not be concerned with the Vitality County Championship table as they gear up for the climax to the season.
After a week’s break, Worcestershire will bring down the curtain on the 2024 campaign with three games in three weeks, starting with the local derby against Warwickshire at Visit Worcestershire New Road starting on Monday (10.30am).
Successive victories over Durham, Kent and Essex have lifted Worcestershire 28 points clear of the bottom two in their quest to cement a spot in Division One.
But Richardson is more concerned that Worcestershire “control the controllables” in terms of how they perform rather than view the ups and downs of the table.
He said: “Is the aim to carry on playing the same way? That is the important message, that nothing changes from how we’ve played our cricket in the last three games and the approach we have taken.
“It has held us in good stead all season and for the majority of it, we’ve performed really well.
“We’ve rattled a few teams and caused some problems. We’ve managed to get over the line in three games and played some pretty good cricket and put ourselves in with a chance of being competitive.
“That’s what we need to continue to do and don’t look too far ahead of ourselves.”
Richardson added: “Let’s not bother looking up the table or down the table.
“One of my old coaches used to say ‘control the controllables’ and we have very little say on what goes on in any of the other fixtures.
“We just to have to make sure we are really content and very calm where we are at with our cricket.”
Richardson felt the way Worcestershire tackled the challenge posed by Essex spinner Simon Harmer was a key factor in their victory at Chelmsford.
He said: “As a group, we should take great confidence that someone as good as Simon Harmer, who has had such an impact on Championship cricket, we played him really well.
“The fact we scored nearly 200 runs against him at pretty much four an over….there was a good chance he was going to take some wickets but it was how we dealt with the stuff in between.
“All the players who batted for a period of time, I thought they did a really good job.”
Worcestershire will welcome back all-rounder Matthew Waite against the Bears after nearly two months out of action.
Waite suffered a side strain during the Vitality Blast encounter with Yorkshire Vikings at New Road on July 14.
It came at a time when the 28-year-old was in a rich vein of form.
He had taken 5-21 against Leicestershire Foxes – the best figures by a Worcestershire bowler in T20 cricket – and followed it with 4-29 and 34 off the final over with the bat – including five sixes – against Birmingham Bears.
Richardson said: “Matthew has shown he is a valuable part of the squad throughout the season and is turning himself into a very fine all-round cricketer.
“He scored some valuable runs for us this season in T20 and red ball cricket and has taken some valuable wickets and put in some really good performances with the ball.
“For us, to have someone like Matthew available now, chomping at the bit, nice and fresh going into those last three games, it gives us a lot of energy going into that last part of the season.”
Pace bowler Joe Leach is rested for this game after playing the previous two after returning from a knee injury.
On loan spinner Amar Virdi is set to make his home debut for Worcestershire after playing in the away wins against Durham and Essex.
