I WOULD probably put our LV= County Championship Division Two victory at Leicestershire last week down as our best win of the season.
After losing the toss and being put in on a really green pitch in overcast conditions – exactly what you want to see on the first day if you are a seam bowler – it was a superb effort.
I thought the hundred from Alexei Kervezee was an incredible effort on that wicket up against an experienced seam attack and it kept us in the game and enabled us to keep it ‘even Stevens’ after the first innings. The third innings then really set us up for a well-earned win.
Everyone who has seen Alexei bat knows how talented he is, it is just a case of applying himself and getting those scores out in the middle. By his own standards, he has underachieved over the last couple of years, so to get back to good form is great.
He has played sensibly, probably not as extravagant as he has been in the past, and is picking and choosing when to play his shots.
It was brilliant to see Tom Fell score his maiden first-class hundred too – the lads on the balcony were probably more excited than him, because he is an unbelievably laid-back kid, who takes everything in his stride. He has taken to first-class cricket really well since coming into the side last year.
Saeed Ajmal bowled us to victory even though the pitch hadn’t really spun at all before lunch on the final day.
He then found a little bit of turn and he is devastating when he comes on against guys who are just starting their innings.
We are a really tight bunch at Worcester and once a few people start getting runs, others feed off that and it all builds the confidence.
Everyone wants everybody else to do well – even if that might mean it is keeping you out of the side – and it is really pleasing to see how well things are going right throughout the club, including those in the Second XI.
The Seconds had a remarkable win over Glamorgan at Kidderminster, chasing down over 400 on the last day.
You get value for runs at Chester Road, but Shaaiq Choudhry played an absolute blinder to make 150 and there were good contributions for other guys as well.
Chouds is a talented batter and has showed signs of his ability when he’s been in the first team, but he struggles to get opportunities as he bats at eight or nine.
We now have a few days off and it will be really good to have some down-time.
Hopefully, we can come back and hit the ground running against Nottinghamshire in the NatWest T20 Blast on Friday.
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