PEARS skipper Brett D’Oliveira will captain the side in the Vitality Blast in addition to the LV=Insurance County Championship next summer, New Road bosses have revealed.
Red ball vice-captain Jake Libby will lead the team in the Royal London Cup, with batter Jack Haynes being appointed white ball vice-captain.
D’Oliveira takes over as Blast captain from Moeen Ali, who moved to Warwickshire, and has previous experience in the role when the England all-rounder was on international duty.
He was captain for seven matches in 2018 when Worcestershire won the tournament for the first time.
D’Oliveira’s appointment will provide continuity in the role after Moeen, Ben Cox, and Colin Munro captained the T20 side during the 2022 campaign.
“This presents a different challenge, and I feel we are trying to change how we will play our T20 cricket a little bit. If we were brutally honest, we weren’t anywhere near good enough last year,” he said.
“It is really hard when you’ve got three different people captaining one competition for various reasons. It’s no one’s fault, just the way it panned out.
“But continuity can be great for the boys and hopefully give them a greater clarity as to how we want to play our cricket.”
Libby was captain for seven games in the 2022 One Day Cup after D’Oliveira was selected for The Hundred following the opening match versus Kent.
The opening batter has also led Worcestershire in County Championship matches at New Road against Essex in 2021 and Derbyshire last summer.
Libby said: “It is an excellent opportunity for me to keep learning and get as much captaincy experience under my belt as possible.
“I enjoyed leading the side in the One Day Cup last summer. We lost quite a few numbers in our bowling options, so it was a challenge at times.
“But I enjoyed the leadership aspects of it, and it is a great privilege to do it and something I want to do more of.”
Haynes will have the ideal opportunity to learn off D’Oliveira and Libby in his white-ball vice-captaincy role.
In the past, he has skippered Worcestershire at Under-14, Under-15, and Under-17 levels and also the Midlands at the Bunburys and Super Fours tournaments.
“Hopefully, it will give me a lot of different learning experiences. I’m looking forward to learning from Brett and Jake, both very experienced players,” he said.
“It’s been a while since I was a captain, but I’m always thinking about the game and will pick up things from both the captains and go from there.”