PEARS cricket bosses feel the New Road outfit will have a ‘real crack’ at gaining promotion to the LV= County Championship top flight after signing Pakistani quick Muhammad Hasnain.
Steering Group chairman Paul Pridgeon made the admission after Worcestershire confirmed the 22-year-old’s arrival for the final six matches of the campaign.
Hasnain has already featured 26 times for his country, albeit in white ball cricket, and Pridgeon hopes his 90mph pace will ‘blast teams out’ in the closing weeks of the campaign.
The quick will be available for the next two County Championship games against Middlesex and Derbyshire before leaving to play in The Hundred for the Oval Invincibles.
He will then be available for the final four games of a campaign in which Worcestershire will seek success following a poor T20 Blast season which has seen them win just one of 12 group games so far.
The Rapids were humiliated in front of the Sky Sports cameras on Friday (June 24) after being bowled out for just 84 by the Birmingham Bears at Edgbaston to lose by 144 runs – the largest defeat in English domestic T20 history.
Hasnain was recommend by Pakistani team-mate Azhar Ali who praised the youngster’s character and skill-set.
“I want to help Worcestershire win matches first and foremost, but I also want to play more first-class cricket, and this is an ideal opportunity,” said Husnain.
“It will also be part of my cricketing education playing in England on different pitches.
“Azhar has had nothing but good things to say about Worcestershire, and I’m looking forward to joining up, and hopefully, I can make a similar impact to him.”
Pears head coach Alex Gidman said the extra pace offered by Hasnain would be even more important given the flat nature of pitches this summer.
“He bowls very quick, so a different skill set to what we have, and he will hopefully give us a chance of winning more games,” he said.
“He is going to be exactly what the group needs, some real power and energy.
“The longer the season goes on, the harder it becomes, so to have some fresh impetus when we really need it is going to be good for the guys.
“It will be fascinating to see how Muhammad impacts the group.
“We are going to try and have as strong a team as we can to finish the campaign. It may just help us and give us a slight advantage at times, hopefully.”