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Worcestershire County Cricket Club

County Champions: 1964, 1965, 1974, 1988, 1989
One-Day Champions: 1991, 1994
T20 Champions: 2018

2021 Season

It's that wonderful time of year again. Peter's cathedral soars, Severn gleams blue and wide beyond the score-box, and with the fierce midday sun upon the ground, through heat-haze comes the wary sound of bat on ball. For the first time in two long years, springtime means county cricket, and when the revamped County Championship gets underway on Thursday, Worcestershire will be looking to continue their welcome red-ball revival in a fiercely competitive group.

After disastrous first-class campaigns in 2018 and 2019, the Pears made a real mark on the Bob Willis Trophy at the back end of 2020, remaining unbeaten until their final game and pushing a strong Somerset side the full distance for qualification.  Having been prone to fragility in the batting line-up since the departure of Tom Kohler-Cadmore and Joe Clarke, at the heart of this welcome renaissance was a newfound resilience in the top order: Jake Libby proved an instant hit, top-scoring with 498 runs at an average of 55.33 - second only to Sir Alastair Cook in the entire competition - while fellow opener Daryl Mitchell supplied 384 at 42.66, former opener Brett D'Oliveira continued to flourish down the order with 367, and long-suffering number three Tom Fell finally notched his first century since recovering from cancer in a match-winning second-innings knock at Northants. Worcestershire will need this run-scoring to continue, and have therefore made just a couple of tweaks to the roster through the winter. Gareth Roderick arrives from Gloucestershire to slot in at three and deputise for star gloveman Ben Cox, who signed a contract extension in March. Dudley-born youngster Olly Westbury, a mainstay of the second XI, has now been deemed surplus to requirements, but the county are keeping faith with twenty-year-old stroke-player Jack Haynes following a promising season in which he recorded his first two first-class half-centuries, and made a decent start in all but one of his other cameos, averaging a very handy 40.71 in total.

With the ball in hand, Worcestershire's strength has for many years been a selection of highly competent medium-fast bowlers with strength in depth, and the county's weakness the lack of a true strike bowler who can find that bit of extra pace or guile to break a stubborn partnership when the game's slipping away. Skipper Joe Leach continued to set an example for the seam attack as top first-class wicket-taker for the Pears in 2020, though his average was considerably bettered by the ever-consistent Ed Barnard, who notched just one fewer wicket for an outstanding 21.66. With Charlie Morris and Josh Tongue also in contention, while youngsters Dillon Pennington and Adam Finch continue to shine in their occasional cameos, it seemed in the autumn that pace was no pressing concern. To that end, Wayne Parnell - unable to feature in 2020 due to international travel restrictions, and deprived of Kolpak status due to Brexit - was released. And following him out of the door, sadly, was young left-arm orthodox spinner Ben Twohig, whose years of apprenticeship under the great Norman Gifford never translated into a meaningful first-team impact. As the part-time leg-breaks of Dolly provided only a handful of wickets at an eye-watering average north of 40, and Moeen Ali continues to be a bit-part player due to foreign and international commitments, addressing the longstanding Achilles heel of spin was the order of the day at New Road, and accordingly the county spent a good chunk of the winter pursuing the signature of South African left-armer Keshav Maharaj to fill the gap. But fresh injury woes for Josh Tongue, who's set to miss the start of the season, led the Pears to feel that another frontline pace option to capitalise on springtime conditions was a must; so in addition to extending the contract of Academy youngster Mitchell Stanley, the club will be welcoming West Indian Test quick Alzarri Joseph for the first seven matches, before hopefully securing a spinner for the second half of the season.

With champions Essex up first, and a host of tough games to follow, Worcestershire will need to hit the ground running. But after last summer, there's at least a sense that good things may again be just around the corner. Come on you Pears.