Saturday, September 23rd, 2017

Bumpy: Important For Players To Totally Focus On Own Game

Steve Rhodes has stressed the importance of Worcestershire focusing 100% on their own game when the Specsavers County Championship promotion battle reaches a climax next week.

Worcestershire need six points to ensure a return to Division One and 19 points to go up as champions from their final match against Durham at New Road starting on Monday (10.30am start).

Rhodes knows the temptation to look at results elsewhere concerning nearest challengers Nottinghamshire and Northamptonshire.

But the County’s Director Of Cricket says the points needed will take care of themselves if Worcestershire can establish a position of strength against a Durham side he has plenty of respect for.

Rhodes said: “They’ve got quite a few guys who have played Division One cricket. With the likes of Rushworth and Onions, they’ve got experienced bowlers and, if Wood plays, he is one of, if not the fastest bowler in English cricket.

“It is very much a team to respect. We played them up at Durham with the pink ball under lights and had the upper hand in a rain affected match.

“We were pleased we could dominate against them but that means nothing.

“We’ve got to earn the right to get into a good position against them here and just do what we’ve been doing and play better than the opposition.

“The lads are bound to have an eye on other things (the other games) but I’ll be trying to stress the importance of us getting into strong positions towards winning this game.

“The points will take care of themselves if that is the case.

“We’ve got to focus on winning and if you are slightly distracted in anyway, then it might not work as well as it should do.”