Wednesday, May 3rd, 2017

Seconds Bidding For Third Successive Trophy Success

Seconds Bidding For Third Successive Trophy Success

Worcestershire Seconds will be bidding for a third successive Trophy win when they take on their Derbyshire counterparts at Kidderminster tomorrow (11am).

Coach Kevin Sharp's side have defeated Warwickshire at Moseley and Nottinghamshire at Oakham School in their opening two matches.

George Rhodes, part of the senior squad for the Royal London One-Day Cup match with Northamptonshire today, will return to skipper the side after scoring a superb 134 not out in the win over Nottinghamshire.

Sharp has been pleased with the performances so far after the Seconds struggled in white ball cricket last summer.

He said: "We had difficulties in white ball cricket last year. I always kind of felt the experiences of the last year or two would always stand the lads in good stead.

"They are a year older and a year wiser and they have performed like it.

"The lads have a bit more experience, a bit more know how, of how to change tact, change tactics, thinking quicker on your feet, all those sorts of things, and they have done it for the last two or three games."

In terms of the two performances, Sharp said: "Against Warwickshire, it was two strong sides. We made 300 plus and it came down to Duckworth-Lewis but it was a very good team performance.

"We did really well against Notts. We lost the toss and weren't sure how the pitch was going to play. It was a bit green in places.

"It didn't do much and was a bit tennis ball bounce. We lost three wickets and it was difficult to score and we then had a slight stroke of fortune.

"There was a very heavy shower and some of it got on the wicket and when we started again it was a bit skiddier and a bit easier to bat on for a few overs.

"It got George (Rhodes) and Alex (Hepburn) going a bit and they played brilliantly both of them in a partnership of 138 and set the tone.

"George finished it off and produced an innings of high class (134 not out) to get us a very competitve score and then the seamers did some damage upfront.

"There were some excellent spells, particularly from Josh Tongue and Pat Brown backed up by the rest of the bowlers.

"Alex Hepburn bowled well and the spinners chipped in and Charlie Morris did his bit and it was good to see.

"They had a good partnership for the seventh wicket but we managed to get a wicket at a vital time and they finished 15 short."

Seconds:

Rhodes (c)

Westbury

Kervezee

Hepburn

Dell

Malik

Twohig

Dodd (w)

Billy Cox

Brown

Davis