PROMISING talent Alex Hepburn has targeted a place in the Worcestershire side for their promotion push following a run of games in white ball cricket.
The 21-year-old is fresh from a spell of games in the Rapids’ disappointing NatWest T20 Blast campaign – two years after making his senior breakthrough in the Royal London One-Day Cup.
Despite the team’s poor campaign, Hepburn returned the best-ever figures by a Worcestershire bowler in the T20 competition when he took 5-24 against the Nottinghamshire Outlaws
Hepburn admitted playing in the four-day format was a big goal after a season of consistent performances for the Seconds with bat and ball.
“For me, Championship cricket is the main form I want to be playing in. We want to push for promotion, if not win the league,” he said.
“It is a big thing for me to try and get into that side and hopefully get promotion.
“Putting on that baggy green for Worcestershire is a huge honour. I’ve yet to be capped and that is main goal for the rest of the season, to definitely push my case for red ball cricket.”
Australian-born Hepburn hopes his consistent performances for the Seconds will aid his claims for a senior spot and he revealed his hopes of becoming a genuine all-rounder.
“I think ‘consistent’ is a massive word when it comes to cricket. As a batter, you can get a hundred, then miss out for six innings and then get a half century,” he said.
“Stringing scores together is what gets you noticed and hopefully this year I’ve become a lot more consistent. That’s been my main goal. If you are a consistent cricketer, you back yourself to go out and do your job nine times out of ten.
“In terms of bowling, I’ve been a more regular second-team bowler this year. We’ve had a quite a young group of bowlers like George Scrimshaw, Adam Finch, Dillon Pennington.
“So for me it has been become a bit more of a senior role and I have loved it.
“Am I a batsman who bowls at present? I think it depends on the format.
“In T20 cricket, in the Seconds, I’ve been opening the batting and I’d say I was an all-rounder.
“But obviously coming into the first team, like I did a couple of years for the one-day stuff, I’d play as a bowling all-rounder.
“I’m going to keep trying to improve my batting so I can get a spot in that top six.”
