Northants Preview: Pollock Primed to Power On against Steelbacks

Vitality T20 Blast Match Three: Worcestershire Rapids v Northants Steelbacks

Venue: Visit Worcestershire New Road

Date: Friday 6th June

Scheduled start time: 5:30pm

Worcestershire Rapids await the arrival of Northants Steelbacks on Friday evening, brimming with confidence after two matches of the Vitality T20 Blast.

Brett D’Oliveira starred as his side made the perfect start at home in the tournament, sweeping aside Yorkshire by 60-runs in a comprehensive win, creating a palpable excitemenr as the Rapids await Friday’s fireworks.

Brett D’Oliveira’s scintillating 79 off 48 balls sent his team on their way to a first Vitality T20 Blast win of the season, as they swept aside Yorkshire at Visit Worcestershire New Road.

Adam Hose, (54), joined his skipper in finding form as their partnership of 117 propelled the Rapids to 201-5.

The visitors failed to get going in reply, with a middle order collapse leaving Yorkshire, 51-6, a position from which they failed to recover.

Adam Finch (2-19) starred with the ball, as Worcestershire’s seamers Jacob Duffy and Ben Dwarshuis helped their side  wrap up a convincing 60-run win by DLS as rain brought a premature end to proceedings.

“That is me at my best”: Pollock finds form ahead of Steelbacks encounter

Despite his side performing well in the opening two Vitality T20 Blast fixtures, it has been a challenging start for opening batter Ed Pollock, who struggled to get going against Lancashire and Yorkshire in the opening two fixtures of the white-ball campaign.

Registering scores of 10 and then 12 on Sunday, Pollock, watched on as teammates Brett D’Oliveira and Adam Hose both registered blistering half-centuries on the way to setting the visitors over 200 to win.

However, Pollock, returned to form in quite sensational fashion earlier in the week as he captained the 2^nd XI to a rampant nine-wicket win, during which he displayed all of his batting prowess by slamming 69 off just 28 balls.

The opening bat was grateful for the opportunity to play himself into some form ahead of a long Blast campaign.

“It’s always good fun to get out here at New Road, especially with it being a long T20 season with 14 games. After not making a score or to not contribute in the first two games, but it was good to get a bit of rhythm, bit of timing. It was just nice.

“I think as I’ve got older, I’ve kind of made peace with how I go about my game. There have been times that I’ve kind of been a bit more watchful but I know how I want to play and how the team kind of backs me to play, and when I come off, I can win games for the team.

“It was nice for it to happen today and I am looking for a few more performances this season.”

The nature of the display was particularly eye-catching, as the ball was dispatched to all parts of the ground in a commanding innings.

The not-out innings included six sixes and five fours, and Pollock, was quick to explain that it is no coincidence that his best cricket is played when he is feeling confident and takes the game to a bowling attack.

“That is me at my best. Anyone who knows me knows when it comes straight, I’ll pick it up from there and any width, I’ll kind of just throw my hands at.

“I know when I’m not my best, I can kind of shut down and look in one area. But it’s playing with a quite clear mind, quite relaxed. It kind of shows them when I score around the ground.

After going down narrowly away at Lancashire Lightning, Sunday’s victory came as a huge morale boost for everyone at Visit Worcestershire New Road, with their team showing they are more than capable of competing in this format.

With the schedule throwing up games at a rapid rate, and away fixtures involving some gruelling journeys, the importance of making your home ground a tough place for teams to come and win is something Pollock, and his teammates have identified.

“To have such a commanding win the other night was great. We spoke about being hard to beat at home and knowing our own conditions, everyone knows the ground is a bit different here.

“We think if we know the ground the best and getting seven games at home, we walk away with four or five wins from playing at home, knowing it better, playing it the conditions well, that obviously goes a long way to helping ourselves.”

Friday, will see the third placed Rapids, take on unbeaten and second placed Northants Steelbacks, in a Northern Group clash that could go a long way in deciding the eventual outcome of who progresses to the later stages.

Pollock, has previous against one member of the Steelbacks squad, having played alongside Australian International, Lloyd Pope, at club level for Barnt Green, over the last couple of years.

That personal battle, only adds to the anticipation ahead of the clash, but has no bearing on his belief in the Rapids’ ability, says Pollock.

“I think there’s an awareness of Northants, they’ve got a lot of good players.

“Personally, I’m quite looking forward to it, playing against, Lloyd Pope. I played club cricket with him the last two years, so it’ll be nice to go up against him, but a lot of it is backing your own skills.

“A lot of us now have played against these guys enough that we know if we bring our best game we should do enough to win.

Last season: Quarter-finals

Previous best: Winners (2013 and 2016)

One to watch: David Willey

Northants’ buck the trend of previous winners in the competition, as a side who secured both of their title’s without any ‘superstar’ names.

That pattern has followed this season, with a heavy reliance falling on veteran, Ravi Bopara, who will look to rectify Northamptonshire’s batting frailties that were much in evidence during the Rothesay County Championship.

A side looking to add to their trophy cabinet, they could not have made a better start to this campaign, going two from two under the guidance of Australian Coach, Darren Lehmann.

With over 300 domestic T20 wickets, and a hat-trick to his name when the Steelbacks won their first ever T20 Blast title, 12 years ago, Northants Captain, David Willey, boasts a very impressive CV when it comes to the short-format of the game.

Adding in his wealth of batting experience at the top of the order, the 35-year-old bowling all-rounder will no doubt look to help his side continue their impressive start to the season in the Blast.

Re-joining the club in 2023, after a six year stint away at Yorkshire, Willey will no doubt be the key figure for his boyhood club once again this season.