[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

A sad week at New Road as nine-year Pears veteran Tom Fell is confirmed to be leaving the county at the end of the season along with youngsters Jacques Banton and Josh Dell. 97 first-class matches yielded 4485 runs for Fell, but five of his six centuries came prior to his cancer diagnosis in late 2015, and despite enormous goodwill upon his return, his career average fell away over the course of five years to 28.75, well short of what Worcs needed at number three. Only 29 next summer, hopefully he can find another county and make a fresh start, as it would be a shame for his career to fizzle out entirely after such a promising start.

Josh Dell, 25 in the autumn, made seven first-class appearances in 2019 when he was favoured ahead of Jack Haynes as a replacement for Joe Clarke. He was dropped in at the deep end and shuffled somewhat abruptly around the top order during a difficult season in which he contributed 158 runs at 13.16, with a high score of 61. Banton - a 21-year-old slow left-armer presumably considered surplus to requirements behind Josh Baker - debuted last summer in List A cricket and this summer in T20, contributing 56 runs and 4 wickets from three appearances in the longer format, and a golden duck from a single ball faced in the shorter, with his sole over bowled returning figures of 1-6. Best of luck to both of them in their future endeavours.