Head Coach Kevin Sharp is backing Worcestershire batsman Tom Fell to bounce back from the challenges of last summer and enjoy a productive 2018 campaign back in Division One of the Specsavers County Championship.
Sharp says Fell is “in a good frame of mind and looking very good at the crease” as the countdown to the new campaign continues.
The 24-year-old scored 1,000 Championship runs when Worcestershire were last in the top flight in 2015 and he greatly impressed the then champions Yorkshire with his century in the opening game of that season.
Now he will be striving to play a full part in the County trying to make their mark in Division One with the opening match away to Hampshire just 10 days away.
Sharp said: “Tom is still relatively young and every player will go through a tough period. His was probably a bit longer than he would have liked but it won’t do him any harm.
“He is in a good frame of mind, he looks very good at the crease.
“He probably enjoyed a little break at the end of the season like we all did and he looks absolutely fine.
“I’d be very confident that he will go on and have a good season.
“He got 1,000 runs the last time he played in Division One, he needs to remember that. He got a fine century against Yorkshire and they were very impressed.
“Let’s hope he can do that again and I’d take great pleasure from seeing Tom make 150 at Scarborough!”
In terms of last summer, Sharp added: “Sometimes when you are out of form, the confidence levels and the technique go hand in hand.
“If you are a bit low on confidence, it can affect your technique. You might grip the bat a bit hard so it affects your balance and your bat path and those things were happening a little for Tom which is not unusual.
“But once he has managed to spend some time at the crease again, and started to relax and enjoyed that feeling of being out there again, all those other things will just fall into place.”
