PEARS chief Alex Gidman has revealed he wants to ‘raise the bar’ of his Worcestershire players in terms of the quality needed to maintain a first team place and push for a spot in the side via the seconds.
The New Road first team coach urged his players to lift their expectation levels as a squad as an important factor moving into a busy period of the summer.
A trip to South Wales to tackle surprise package Glamorgan this week before a home clash with Derbyshire and the journey north to face Durham all come before the Pears tackle the defence of their Vitality Blast crown.
While Gidman stressed the importance of continuity, he admitted he would consider making changes if it helped to produce a winning formula
“We’ve got to raise the expectation levels a little bit of what are the results that keep a place in our first team and what the second team players are doing to push the first team,” he said.
“I think that is really important we just raise that bar a little bit. No-one has a divine right to be in the team and to stay in the team.
“We are in professional sport and if things aren’t quite working out then we will make the changes we feel we need to. We have a few of us who discuss how we feel we need to move forward.
Gidman added: “It’s not about being trying to be the tough guy that makes the changes. It’s about trying to get the best XI we can.
“I said the week before last that I believe in continuity. It is very easy as a coach, captain and support staff to make changes every week because it is not working.
“That is not how it works in my opinion. We need to give guys continuity and consistency and if after three, four, five games those combinations aren’t working then we will look to change them.
“But right now, I believe we’ve got our best balance and our best players playing right now and those guys, barring injuries, will get the opportunities to carry on.”