STEVE RHODES COLUMN

THE Worcester public have had two very good games to enjoy in our recent matches with Gloucestershire and West Indies 'A'.

I am pleased that we have managed to get two good wins under our belts in front of a home crowd.

Our match with the West Indians was an incredible game.

At one stage, most of us were anticipating an early finish.

That doesn't mean we didn't back Roger Sillence and Ray Price, just that the odds were stacked against them.

Roger played the dominant role in the partnership, but Ray played very sensibly too and they did brilliantly to bat right through to the last over.

When the team contributes runs down the order, it is either the icing on the cake or it gets you out of jail and that was the case on Sunday.

The West Indies were going quite well in their reply, but Gareth Batty and Ray really restricted them -- this put them under a lot of pressure and was the turning point of the game.

Even though they only needed five or six an over, the lads knew that if they could keep the pressure on we still had a chance to win.

Also, I thought Vikram Solanki captained excellently and made some great bowling changes.

It will have done the younger lads -- the likes of Ed Foster, Will Gifford and Daryl Mitchell -- a lot of good to have played their part in a game like that too.

Gareth Batty's fantastic catch really got the crowd going.

It looked like a six all the way, but he leapt up and took it one-handed goalkeeper-fashion.

It was similar to the catch Craig Spearman took for Gloucester in the Twenty20, but the ball was travelling much faster.

In response to the media announcement about Graeme Hick, I am pleased we are offering him a new contract.

I particularly like the role he is playing at number five this year as it gives us a lot of strength down the order.

It was good to see Nadeem Malik bowling again. He has had a tough season with injuries but having him back playing gives us more depth in the squad.

As soon as Phil Jaques was given a central contract, we knew he would have to report to the training camp later this month.

However, when we signed him he wasn't centrally contracted, but these things happen and you have to get on with it.

We have a more than able replacement in Lou Vincent too. Lou will be staying on with us, so he can fill in when Phil goes and he is an absolutely perfect character for our dressing room.