Worcestershire opener Daryl Mitchell is delighted to have put his "name in the hat" for selection when Moeen Ali returns from England duty for the next three Royal London One-Day Cup matches.
Mitchell was left out of the side when Moeen was available for the opening two North Group wins over Notts Outlaws and Leicestershire Foxes.
But the 33-year-old has marked his return to the side with 75 in the tie against Northamptonshire Steelbacks and 69 plus three wickets in the 51 run win versus Yorkshire Vikings.
Mitchell said: "Obviously I was a little bit disappointed to be left out and it is nice when I have got my chance to take it and put my name in the hat now that Mo is back again.
"We've got a good side. All the young lads are getting older and wiser year by year so we've got some good players, particularly in the batting department.
"I think we've got a lot of depth there.
"It is good and I've gone into the last two games knowing that if I didn't get any runs, the chances are I won't be playing next week.
"It was important for me to knuckle down and put in some good performances and I've done that."
Mitchell added: "To be honest, I was a bit scratchy in the power play at Northampton. I struggled to get in, it wasn't easy and I thought they bowled pretty well.
"But after 10 overs, I managed to get a couple of boundaries off the spinners and from there I felt in pretty good shape and hit the ball cleanly.
"I just carried that on against Yorkshire from pretty much the word go."
Mitchell and Tom Kohler-Cadmore laid the platform for the win over the Vikings with an opening stand of 135 in 22 overs as the Rapids rattled up 342 all out.
He said: "I thought 260 would have been about par if you were playing in the middle of the square with decent sized boundaries.
"I thought with the dynamics of the ground for that game, you'd probably want to add 30 or 40 on so 290-300 was par and we went way beyond that.
"They also batted well to get nearly 300. It was a good wicket, a fast outfield and a good game of cricket."
Mitchell was full of praise for Kohler-Cadmore's superb 118 off 199 balls.
He said: "It definitely did him the world of good playing for the Seconds and getting a hundred there.
"He carried that on and played very well, very sensibly and hit some big shots at the right times."
Mitchell felt the nature of the wicket was ideal for his own bowling and he finished with 3-60 from his 10 overs.
He said: "Did it suit me? Very much so, a slow wicket. I'd liked to have had a bigger boundary on the off side if I'm being picky but it was tailor-made for me.
"It was the same wicket as we used last week (against Notts Outlaws) so it was a little bit tired and dry and I got a little bit of purchase with my off cutters and a little bit of variable bounce.
"It suited my hybrid bowling as I like to call it!"
