PEARS all-rounder Ed Barnard has set his sights next season on breaking through the century barrier to boost his chances of climbing up the batting order for Worcestershire.
Barnard has made countless invaluable contributions down the lower order and in 2018 weighed in with another 500 Specsavers County Championship runs to add to his 49 wickets.
But he knows hundreds will bolster his hopes of moving up from the number seven or eight position he predominantly occupies at present.
Barnard: “I still haven’t managed to get that century. It’s a massive aim for me next year because I want to get as high as I can in the order.
“Scoring hundreds is the way to do that.
“If you look around the country, it was a tough year for batting. I saw some stat saying it was the lowest average per wicket in the Championship since the 1970s.
“I can’t get carried away with being too critical of myself but that’s just something personally that, if I was to aim for something, it would be to improve my batting again next year.
“At number seven or eight you sometimes bat with the tail and have to manage it a bit.
“For me, I’d like to bat as high as I can and maybe get up to that number six role which I had a couple of chances at this year.
“If I can become more consistent, it would be great.”