Worcester vs Northants - T20 Blast - 30 May

Worcester have announced a 12 man squad for tomorrow night's game:-
Oliver, Moeen, Mitchell, Munro, Kervezee, Whiteley, Cox, D'Oliveira, Shantry, Ajmal, Morris, Russell.

https://twitter.com/WorcsCCC/status/472003359445381121

I'm yet so see an official squad released by Northants, but presume it will be the same squad which was selected for tonight's washout against Derby:-
Kyle Coetzer*, Muhammad Azhar Ullah, Ian Butler, Maurice Chambers, Steven Crook, Ben Duckett+, Rob Keogh, Richard Levi, Rob Newton, David Sales, Matthew Spriegel, David Willey, Graeme White


Northants are a good T20 outfit and have some serious power in that top order. There won't be many fancying Worcester but the same could have been said last Friday before we convincingly outplayed Notts, arguably the strongest county on paper in the shortest format. Confidence and momentum can go a long way in T20 and the Worcester boys have plenty of both right now. Good luck both!

Hi Pack - Worcs have been the real positive surprise side of the season for me. Thought you would struggle in all formats and really miss Richardson in the CC but you've more than held your own. By contrast, Northants are still to get going.

Weather and Mrs Bat permitting, I hope to get along to the Oval for the first two days of Surrey's CC match against Worcs starting Sunday.

Hello Guildford, good to hear from you! I hope all is well.

I admit I was of a similar mind to you over the winter regarding our chances. We lost a key performer in Rico and our resources remain as light as our budget, but the boys are doing the old "greater than the sum of their parts" adage proud right now. I've seen them live a couple of times so far this year, at Old Trafford and then last week at Trent Bridge. Whilst we ran Lancs very close (but for a below par fielding display we matched them throughout) the game against Notts is the best I have seen a Worcester side play in any format for a number of years. Darryl Mitchell has developed an incredible team spirit amongst those those lads; they are brothers in arms and it shows on the field. He and Bumpy deserve significant credit.

I look forward to your reports from the Oval. I'll be following it on the radio on Sunday. Are we likely to be facing the artillery of Amla, Pietersen et al do you know?

Hi again Pack - your Worcs boys definitely won't be facing Amla. He's in South Africa for some pre-arranged cricket convention (some suggestions that he's to be appointed their captain).

I also very much doubt that Pietersen will be playing. A finger injury has ruled him out of tomorrow's (Friday's) t20 game against Middlesex and all the indications are that his first appearance for Surrey this season will be in the t20 a week later.

Ex Worcs young allrounder Aneesh Kapil has a decent chance of being called into the Surrey side along with two other former Pears - Davies and Batty.

Well that news is welcome indeed if I'm honest. Your batting will look considerably less fearsome as a result. A combination of Burns, Harinath, Ansari, Wilson, Davies, Roy seems a good bet for your top order then?

An interesting one with regards to Kapil. He was always highly rated by Damian D'Oliveira but he never kicked on despite being given opportunities in the first team. Rumours of a poor attitude contributing to his lack of progression circulated for a good while but it is heartening to see him getting opportunities and returning respectable figures for Surrey so far.

I await your one day re-branding to the moniker "Worcestershire all stars" with great anticipation!

Pack - feel you are spot on about our top six.

Yes, Kapil is an interesting one. He's only played one match in the Championship so far for Surrey - away at Kent - and certainly did ok; 4 match wickets for not very many and almost 50 runs from his two innings. Someone who attended the match commmented on the Supporters' website that he was impressed by Kapil's enthusiasm. That was also the case when I saw him field - he was twelfth man - in Surrey's next match at the Oval, achieving one stunning boundary stop with a full length dive.

However, something which grated when I saw him practicing in the nets beforehand - he was bowling at full pelt with his cap on; not a la Boycott but with the peak over the back of his neck. Yes, I know it's the modern style and I'm a miserable git but he wouldn't bowl like that in a match so why do it in practice? Just seemed wrong.

Further update on a possible surprise inclusion in the Surrey team (which may not help Kapil's chances of making the starting eleven) on the ''Surrey news'' thread.

I suppose his retort would be that most guys net in shorts and tshirts too, which again does not reflect match situations but doesn't appear to impinge on performance. I wish him all the luck in the world. I was a little surprised when it was announced that we were releasing him but it is good to see he has found a new home so quickly.

Interesting news Re Peterson - Surrey's 2nd choice man of that name I'm sure - is the Oval taking much turn this year Guildford? Our opposition has generally tried to avoid producing turners against us so far this year due to the Ajmal factor, but considering Norah's fine return to Cc cricket I presume this means we're likely to see spin twins from both sides.

Pack - a retort from Kapil on those lines is probably more than fair. It just seemed to draw attention to himself - something I thought he would have been keen to avoid given the comments about his nonconformist attitude which have followed him from Worcs to the Oval.

We're relaying Oval pitches at the moment and have tried to gear the available wickets towards our numerous seamers. Before he bust a finger, Batty was left out of our opening home CC match and we relied on just Ansari for spin. Not for the first time in recent years, we seem to be going from one extreme to the other if we now add both Batty and Peterson to the mix.

Anyway, back to original thread - hope the rain holds off and best wishes against Northants tonight.

Thanks Guildford!

Newton and Keogh miss out for Northants tonight whilst Worcester are unchanged from the win at Notts, so Charlie Morris misses out despite being impressive at Old Trafford.

Northants have won the toss and will bat.

After an explosive start Willey is gone for 34(18) caught Mitchell of Shantry. NHNTS 56/1 in the sixth.

MO gets Levi caught Russell for 27(22).
NHNTS currently 81/2 in 10th.

Worcs have pulled NHNTS back to 107/5 after 15. MO has 2/23 from 4. Chris Russell picking up the other wicket.

NHNTS finish on 137/7 with Willey top scoring. Excellent effort from the Worcester unit to pull it back in the 2nd half of the.innings to an achievable total.

Moeen 4-23-2 and Russell 4-24-2 with the best returns whilst Ajmal was miserly with 4-14-1. Probably 10/15 runs below par on that Worcester pitch.

Blimey, Pack - your boys really pulled it back there. From the halfway point, thought you were going to be facing north of 160. You should win from here ....

Very comfortable in the end for Pack's boys.

Suggestions today from Worcs that Richardson's departure has resulted in their other seamers having to step up and take more responsibility - probably very true.

Delighted with a very strong team performance from the boys once again with the vast majority making significant contributions. The bowling unit, and Chris Russell especially, deserve huge credit for pulling Northants back. I, like you Guildford, was expecting a total in excess of 170 at the halfway stage (81/2). To concede only 56 in the last 10 is outstanding. Russell went for 14 in his first over, but finished with 2-24 from a full compliment. He took 3-32 last week having once again gone for 14 in his first over...exemplary mental fortitude from an inexperienced quick.

Richie Oliver and Moeen put on 87 for the first wicket to all but ensure the victory, and Oliver's 77 from 43 (9x4 3x6) was outstanding by all accounts. He may not get a dig in 1st class cricket with Worcester this year, but I expect to see him in the 50 over game at least, especially if Moeen features in Test match cricket this year as expected.

Good to see a thread for a Worcs match.  They certainly are doing better than I expected as well.

In contrast Northants really have been looking quite disjointed in recent weeks.

You seem to have unearthed a T20 gem in Richie Oliver!!

Always good to see some good scouring of the lower leagues rewarded

Corporalhumblebucket wrote:Good to see a thread for a Worcs match.  They certainly are doing better than I expected as well.

In contrast Northants really have been looking quite disjointed in recent weeks.

Cheers Corporal! I'll do my best to keep you all updated where I can. I have to admit that right now it is fantastic to see people talking about Worester. This morning there are six seperate articles, features or reports about us - that's not bad for an unfashionable county!

With regards to Richie Oliver, he's played under Kevin Sharp at Shropshire for a number of years. When Kevin moved to Worcester this winter due to Damian D'Oliveira's unfortunate illness the door opened for Richie. He was called up for a 2nds game when we were one short, scored a one day century, a 2nds champ century and the rest, as they say, is history. He'll be 12th man at the Oval on Sunday as "reward" for his performances - figure that one out!