Worcestershire keeper-batter Gareth Roderick has signed a new three-year contract after a memorable 2024 campaign and is determined to help the club build on their success last summer.
Roderick had 12 months left of his current deal and has now extended his contract until the end of the 2027 campaign.
The 33-year-old won four awards when the club staged their Gala Awards Evening in late September.
Roderick lifted the Tom Graveney Players’ Player Award, the Supporters’ Association Player Of The Year, the Dick Lygon Award – for contributions on and off the field – and the Cricket Society Moment Of The Season Award.
He played a major role with the bat and behind the stumps in Worcestershire, securing a top-six spot in Division One of the Vitality County Championship – their highest position since the competition split into two divisions in 2000.
Roderick formed one of the best opening red ball partnerships in the country with Jake Libby, hitting two centuries and four fifties, in addition to more than 400 runs in the Metro Bank One Day Cup during Worcestershire’s run to the quarter-finals.
His 46 scalps in the Championship was second only to Surrey’s Ben Foakes and he finished with the most dismissals – 23 – in the One Day Cup.
Roderick, who moved to Worcestershire from Gloucestershire for the 2021 season, also achieved his goal of playing in every competitive match with 14 Championship, 14 Vitality Blast and nine One Day Cup appearances.
He said: “Delighted to sign this new contract. I would say last summer was the most satisfying season for me in terms of own performance and the team.
“With all the adversity, the injuries and the sad passing of Josh (Baker), to be part of something the club hasn’t achieved before, and helping to contribute in a small way to that success, was very rewarding.
“Hopefully I can play my part over the next three years in building on that. It was a nice stepping stone for what is to come. We’ve put a line in the sand on what we can do.
“Now it is up to us to regroup in the winter, get everyone fit and raring to go for next year.
“We put a points tally together for this year, and a position in the table, and we need to try and better that next year.”
Roderick, who is again skippering Green Point in his native Soutth Africa this winter, was delighted to be an ever present last summer.
He said: “It is a bit of an ask these days to play that much cricket in such a short period of time. I have to shout out Powelly (Andy Powell) for looking after me so I could get through the year.
“There were niggles and things like that, which naturally occur throughout the summer, but thankfully nothing major.”
Worcestershire Head Coach, Alan Richardson, said: “So pleased that Gareth has committed his future to Worcestershire for at least the next three years.
“In terms of his impact on games, the innings he played, the way he kept wicket, the way he continued to play, more than anyone else in the country, was outstanding last summer.
“It was an amazing effort from Gareth, one he should be rightly proud of, and he has also been a vital part of the changing room.
“He deserved every award that came his way at the end of the season and we are looking for him to play a leading role over the next three years.”
