Several players who featured for Worcestershire in their successful Metro Bank One Day Cup campaign will be in action for Worcestershire Seconds when they return to Championship action against Middlesex at Radlett on Monday.
Ed Pollock, one of Worcestershire’s heaviest run-scorers in the 50 over tournament, leading wicket-taker Jack Home and spinner Tom Hinley are all included.
Pollock, who will skipper the Seconds, scored 387 One Day Cup runs at an average of 43.00 while Home and Hinley ended with 16 and 13 wickets respectively.
Two new triallists are also part of the 12 strong squad in seamers George O’Connor and Seb Allison.
Allison, 21, returned the impressive figures of 2-29 from 10 overs when playing for Northumberland against Durham in the National Counties Showcase Game.
O’Connor, aged 20, has played for Kent Seconds this summer having previously played for Sussex Seconds and Northamptonshire Seconds.
The Seconds will be returning to action for the first time in nearly seven weeks and will end the campaign with a trio of Championship fixtures.
They take on Derbyshire at Barnt Green from September 9 and Northamptonshire at Dunstable from September 16.
The Seconds Championship programme – reduced in 2024 from 10 to eight games – was severely affected by poor weather during the first block of fixtures.
It meant only a minimum amount of play was possible through April and May before a full programme of T20 cricket.
But in the action possible, Worcestershire were able to introduce a series of triallists and Hinley graduated to the senior squad for the One Day Cup and played all nine matches.
Assistant Coach Richard Jones said: “I feel for the second team lads this year because there has been a distinct lack of cricket with the weather playing a big part.
“We had a reduced fixture list anyway and the four-day games at the start of the year, most of them were rain affected.
“Then the game against Lancashire was obviously cancelled after Bakes (Josh Baker) sadly passed away.
“But we are where we are and we’ve got a good block of four-day cricket to finish with.”
Jones says there have been positives to take from introducing triallists into the Seconds.
He said: “I had a little bit of experience of that from last year and it is part and parcel of the job when you are with the second team.
“Things can happen, guys can get called up, guys can get injured. To flip it around into a positive, it is great to give guys opportunities.
“We’ve had guys like Sam Keeling-Wright who have come through the pathway a little bit and played age group stuff for Worcestershire.
“He has played quite a lot of second team cricket this year and is doing well in the Birmingham League for Old Hill as well, so it’s been great to see him get as many chances as he has.
“Someone like Tom Hinley played quite a bit as well and impressed in T20 cricket and got into the first team squad for the One Day Cup.
“I try and see it as a positive in giving good, young guys opportunities.”
WORCESTERSHIRE SECONDS (FROM):
Ed Pollock ©
Rehaan Edavalath
Henry Cullen (w)
Dan Lategan
Seth Essenhigh
Toby Cox
Tom Hinley
Jack Home
Harry Darley
Sam Keeling-Wright
George O’Connor
Seb Allison
