Head Coach Alan Richardson completed a “double” spanning 13 years by helping to mastermind Worcestershire’s successful bid to secure Vitality County Championship Division One cricket for a second successive season.
Richardson had been a player at Visit Worcestershire New Road when his 73 wickets – the highest tally in the competition that summer – was a major part of Worcestershire staying up in the top flight in 2011.
It led to him being chosen as one of the Wisden Cricketers Of The Year.
Now wind the clock forward and Richardson has had to confront a challenging summer with the passing away of spinner Josh Baker and the longest injury list in living memory.
But the sterling efforts of all the coaches, players and support staff have led to Worcestershire finishing in sixth spot – their highest position since the Championship split into two divisions in 2000.
Here Richardson views the comparisons and differences between the two campaigns.
He said: “I looked back on it a little and I’ve had conversations with Gareth Andrew about it and he took 50 wickets that season.
“I remember him hobbling in on one knee and getting Dale Benkenstein out to get his 50th wicket and I was at third man.
“Looking back, the points were very different, you only got three points for a draw. I think the fact we won four games was a huge part of us staying up.
“Difficult to have comparisons but I do remember that we had some very influential overseas players in 2011.
“We had Damien Wright, Kemar Roach, Saeed Ajmal and Shakib Al Hasan and between them they took a lot of wickets and had a huge influence.
“I remember Shakib only played the one Championship game against Hampshire but he took seven wickets and scored a half century in an innings victory and all the overseas players contributed.
“I think our overseas players this year, their influence, has been equally as big, probably not in the numbers variety but I think Jason Holder, Nathan Smith and Logan van Beek, the energy they provided, the calmness, the confidence they have given the players, has been huge.
“If you add up their stats it probably doesn’t come close to the same stats the guys had in 2011 but the influence they had, you can’t put a number on that.
“We’ve been hugely lucky we’ve had those guys for a period of time,, as we have with the loan players that have come in as well.
Richardson’s 73 wickets was the outstanding achievement in a four year spell at New Road which yielded 254 first class victims while all-rounder Andrew finished with 52 wickets and 666 runs.
On the batting front Vikram Solanki scored 1148 runs and there were other sizeable contributions from Moeen Ali, Alexei Kervezee and Daryl Mitchell.
Richardson said this year’s achievement was down to a “team effort” with everyone making important contributions at different times.
He said: “If you look at our stuff this year in terms of stats, we’ve had no-one stand out. Our top wicket-taker has got 27 wickets and our top run-scorer just below 800.
“But I think we’ve got a hell of a lot of people who’ve contributed at times.
“If you look at our batting, there were a lot of guys who averaged between the mid 20s and 40.
“That has been crucial to us. If anything the stats show what a team effort it has been.”
