Kadeer Ali believes the Worcestershire players gained a “lot of belief” from their home innings win over Nottinghamshire in the LV=Insurance County Championship as they begin the countdown to the 2023 season.
Head Coach Alan Richardson, Assistant Head Coach Kadeer Ali, and the players have reported back for the winter training programme, which will extend through to pre-season games in March.
Kadeer, who was previously Seconds Coach, says that victory in just over two days against the Division Two champions emphasised the potential in the squad at New Road.
He said: “Do you feel exciting times are ahead? I honestly do. Last season, if you look at the game here against Nottinghamshire, a fantastic side, we outplayed them over three days.
“That performance showed the real potential of this group. I think a lot of the guys are in their mid to late 20s, and I think they are ready to kick on now.
“That three-day game should give, and has given, the squad a lot of belief and demonstrated how good we can be.
“Overall, our red ball cricket is getting better and better.
“There were a couple of days in certain games where we weren’t quite ‘on’ it, which potentially cost us a real fight for promotion at the end of the season.
“But overall, our red ball cricket is going in the right direction.”
Kadeer stressed the importance of the winter programme to those members of the squad staying to train in England and those heading abroad to play.
He said: “It is very important and myself and Alan have spoken to some of the lads as we are trying to encourage them to actually go away and play as well.
“A lot of the boys are going to play some cricket and, in addition with the lads at Malvern, we will get some quality stuff done.
“The early part of the winter will be the more technical stuff, and in the New Year, we will start to really get stuck in.”
