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Worcestershire County Cricket Club

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

2022 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. The Bob Willis Trophy - well-intentioned but unnecessary after 2020 - has been scrapped, the County Championship has been restored in its two-division glory, and for the first time in three years Worcestershire will be fighting for promotion.

2021 was a disappointment across the board, with few redeeming moments in any format.  Moreover, with departures galore - the retirement of Daryl Mitchell, the triple-exit of Riki Wessels, Ross Whiteley and Alex Milton - the county will be embarking on this campaign with a markedly different side to that which last competed in Division Two way back in September 2019. At the top of the batting order, Jake Libby will now take Mitch's place as the first to the crease each innings, and though the returning Ed Pollock has partnered him through the warm-up games, it's highly likely that Pakistan veteran and overseas signing Azhar Ali will fulfil that role in the season proper. Despite a very iffy first summer at New Road, it would appear that Gareth Roderick is currently favoured as number three in place of the struggling Tom Fell, while Jack Haynes should continue developing into a fine top-order batsman at four. In the middle order, new skipper Brett D'Oliveira will have a lot to prove, but Ed Barnard seems set to continue his evolution into a batting all-rounder at number six. As a back-up option, Taylor Cornall arrived from Lancashire last autumn and will have the chance to impress in the seconds with one eye on the first XI in future.

Batting was far from the only problem in 2021, with the county simply struggling to take twenty wickets week in, week out. Now relieved of the captaincy, it'll be up to Joe Leach to lead from the front and better his tally of 38 this time round, supported by Dillon Pennington as he continues to evolve into a prime new-ball bowler, the canny Charlie Morris and young Adam Finch. How much we'll see of yesteryear's wunderkind Josh Tongue - utterly plagued by injury in his career to date - remains to be seen, but spin revelation Josh Baker will undoubtedly be looking forward to his first full campaign after emerging with tons of promise in midsummer 2021. After losing Wayne Parnell the attack looked somewhat samey last year, and the county have sought to address that issue by signing left-armer Ben Gibbon from Lancashire; of course, once his IPL commitments are done we can also expect Moeen Ali to parachute in for a few high summer cameos.

The white-ball game will see another chance to shine for Pat Brown, who missed the 2021 Blast with back trouble. When he departs for Birmingham Phoenix, there'll be ample opportunity for Mitchell Stanley in the One-Day Cup. It's a tough division this year with some big dogs in the race, but after last summer, expectations are fairly moderate to say the least. Promotion is probably a pipe dream this time around, but if Dolly can inspire the team to cobble together a few wins and put 2021 well behind them, that'll be a start. Come on you Pears.