Worcestershire have received a double Vitality Blast finals day fitness boost with Wayne Parnell and Brett D’Oliveira set to be available for the September 21 showpiece at Edgbaston.
Parnell has been suffering from a severe viral infection while fellow all-rounder D’Oliveira fractured a thumb when fielding off his own bowling in late July.
But the pair have made encouraging progress and are on course to be in contention for when the Rapids look to defend their title in 10 days time.
Worcestershire’s Head Of Sports Science and Medicine, Ben Davies, said: “Wayne Parnell missed a couple of games through illness. He had a really nasty viral infection which has taken him a little bit of time to get over and had been in hospital for some tests.
“He has only just started to get his appetite back and has only just come back to the club this week.
“Because he has been unable to do anything for a couple of weeks, we have got to build him back up a bit and get him strong again, getting him fit for finals day is the goal and we fully expect to achieve this.
“He will be available for finals day if all goes to plan and we are going to build him up so he will be firing on all cylinders.
“Brett had the cast off his thumb 10 days ago we’ve just gradually been getting the grip strength back in his hand and the left and right are now equal.
“We are just building up his tolerance to cricket now. He is hitting balls again, he has bowled at batsmEn in the nets and has had no reaction.
“We are just going to graduate him back into fielding. That is the one thing we have got to be careful of and will take a bit of time.
“Again we are fully expecting him to be fit for finals day.”
D’Oliveira sustained the injury fielding a drive from Derbyshire Falcons Leus du Plooy on July 31.