Worcestershire Rapids will look to transfer the fine form shown during the Vitality County Championship win over Durham earlier this week into the Vitality Blast when the two sides meet again at the Seat Unique Riverside on Friday evening.
The Rapids have been edged out in a series of tight last over finishes in the T20 tournament and have won only two of their opening six games.
Brought to you by JPM Broking Services
But Head Coach Alan Richardson says Worcestershire will be looking to string together an impressive series of results during the finale to the competition.
He said: “It is possible to transfer that confidence (against Durham) into the Blast The guys play to win. That’s what you get your confidence from at times.
“It doesn’t matter what competition it is in. It’s nice to get that feeling of competing and performing well and getting over the line.
“At times we’ve performed really well in the T20 and there have been three last ball losses and that really hurts you no matter how good the performance is.
“It’s nice to get over the line no matter what format you play.”
Richardson added:“Can we get on a roll of results? That’s what you have to believe. We have got six games left and no matter how you are going, we have to go into every game believing we are going to win and put in a good performance.
“But there is no reason why we can’t do that and have the belief to do that.”
Richardson confirmed pace bowler Nathan Smith will be ruled out of the Durham game and Sunday’s with Lancashire Lightning at Emirates Old Trafford with a tight hamstring.
He said: “Nathan won’t be playing over the weekend. We are going to give him a couple of days just to see how it settles.
“He can certainly still feel it and it is a long season for us with a lot of cricket to play. With all the injuries we’ve got, we don’t want another one.”
Worcestershire have remained in the north east after triumphing on Tuesday to recharge their batteries before Friday’s encounter.
Richardson said: “It’s been good for the boys. It’s just given them a nice little bit of confidence after what has been a tough period for us.
“It’s a long time away from home and the guys have been off doing all sorts of stuff just getting ourselves ready for Friday.
“Some have played a bit of golf, some have done a bit of studying, some have been travelling up from Worcester.”
Club Captain Brett D’Oliveira is part of the squad after missing the last two Championship matches with Surrey and Durham because of his shoulder problem.
Pace bowler Adam Finch is also included after suffering a leg injury against Surrey.
Worcestershire Rapids
2 Jake Libby
3 Josh Cobb
6 Matthew Waite
7 Ed Pollock
9 Gareth Roderick (w)
12 Tom Taylor
15 Brett D’Oliveira (c)
27 Kashif Ali
41 Harry Darley
54 Adam Hose
61 Adam Finch
77 Ethan Brookes
86 Hayden Walsh
88 Rob Jones
