All-rounder Matthew Waite has given Worcestershire a further fitness boost and will be available for the final month of the season.
Waite suffered a side strain during the Vitality Blast encounter with Yorkshire Vikings at Visit Worcestershire New Road on July 14.
But he is in contention for Thursday’s Vitality County Championship match with Essex at Chelmsford and Head Coach Alan Richardson is looking for the 28-year-old to play a key role.
Waite’s availability follows on from Club Captain Brett D’Oliveira Joe Leach, Adam Finch, and Kashif Ali all returning for the eight wicket home win over Kent.
Richardson confirmed: “Matthew will be available, will be in the squad for this game (against Essex) and we will see how he goes.
“He is trucking along nicely, needs a bit of game time really. Those guys who are coming back, it’s great they are giving us lots of good energy and are very fresh but there will also be a slight bit of rustiness in there.
“We are hopeful he will be a huge part of our run-in, certainly the last three games and we will see how he goes in the lead-up to the Essex game.”
Waite had just delivered some superb performances in the Blast when he suffered the injury setback.
His 5-21 against Leicestershire were the best ever figures by a Worcestershire bowler in T20 cricket and he then smashed five sixes and 34 in total off the final over against Birmingham Bears.
Richardson said: “He had a huge impact. We tried him in a couple of different roles in the T20 and the one he definitely had more experience in was as that lower order hitter and bowling and he did amazingly well.
“The injury came at a really poor time for him but if we can get a number of days cricket out of him in this coming month, he will have played most of the T20s and a high percentage of our Championship games.
“In his role as all-rounder, it’s a huge ask so hopefully he will finish the season on a high and will be in the side for us for these last three or four games.”
