SKIPPER Joe Leach wants Worcestershire to build on last summer’s success and leave a lasting legacy after the release of the Specsavers County Championship and Royal London One-Day Cup fixtures for 2019.
Leach stressed the importance of ‘staying hungry’ for more silverware after the Rapids unforgettable Vitality Blast triumph in mid-September.
He wants the county to strive to emulate the triumphs of the 1980s and 1990s which decorate the walls of the Hick Pavilion.
Worcestershire will open their bid to regain their Division One status in the Championship at the first attempt with an away fixture against Leicestershire at the Fischer County Ground beginning on May 11.
There will be then be a month of One-Day Cup action with the Rapids going all out to try and repeat and improve on the success of 2017 and 2018 when they topped the North Group and earned two money-spinning home semi-finals.
The Rapids will have away games with Lancashire and Leicestershire before playing host to Durham in their opening home One-Day Cup game on April 24.
Durham will also be the opponents when Worcestershire will be in home Championship action for the first time from May 14.
There is a sizeable block of four-day cricket being staged from mid-May until the end of June when the Vitality Blast will take centre stage.
Leach said: We’ve been building towards something like winning the Vitality Blast for a period of time and have been pretty vocal about our need to push onto that next level and challenge at the back end of tournaments.
“To do that two years in a row, with the two home semi-finakls in 50 over cricket, and now to put a trophy to our white ball cricket shows we are moving in the right direction.
“It vindicates everything we’ve been saying and doing over the past few years. It was a great day at Edgbaston and everyone wants to back it up.
“Next year is the last year at Lord’s for the 50 over competition and everyone would love to play in that.
“I’m sure every county is having the same thoughts but that Lord’s final….if we could go one step forward and get there, and put ourselves in the hunt for another trophy there, it would be special.”
Leach added: “We are also defending T20 (Blast) champions and we want to try and win Division Two (in the Championship). We’ve got three trophies that we are absolutely going to go all out for.
“It’s easy to sit in December and say you want to win this, that and the other but we genuinely have a legitimate chance.
“We were the best white ball team in the country last season. We have to stay hungry and put together a bit of a legacy for this team.
“You go downstairs into the Hick Pavilion and look at success of the 80s, 90s and that’s something we want to achieve here.”
Worcestershire will be part of the Cheltenham Festival in 2019 when they take on Gloucestershire in a Championship match from July 21 and end the campaign in late September with a trip to Hove to face Sussex.
Worcestershire’s 2019 fixtures in full:
Specsavers County Championship
April 11-14 – Leicestershire – Grace Road
May 14-17 – Durham – New Road
May 20-23 – Lancashire – Old Trafford
May 27-30 – Middlesex – New Road
June 10-13 – Lancashire – New Road
June 17-20 – Sussex – New Road
June 30-July 3 – Glamorgan – Sophia Gardens
July 7-10 – Derbyshire – Blackfinch New Road
July 13-16 -Durham – Riverside
July 21-24 – Gloucestershire – Cheltenham
August 18-21 – Northamptonshire – Northampton
September 10-13 – Glamorgan – New Road
September 16-19 – Gloucestershire – New Road
September 23-26 – Sussex – Hove
Royal London One Day Cup
April 17 – Lancashire – Old Trafford
April 21 – Leicestershire Foxes – Grace Road
April 24 – Durham – New Road
April 26 – Northants Steelbacks – Northampton
April 28 – Warwickshire – New Road
May 1 – Notts Outlaws – New Road
May 4 -Yorkshire Vikings – New Road
May 6 – Derbyshire Falcons – County Ground, Derby
Vitality Blast Fixtures 2019
July 18 – Notts Outlaws – Trent Bridge
July 19 – Birmingham Bears – New Road
July 26 – Lancashire Lightning – Old Trafford
July 28 – Durham Jets – New Road
July 31 – Derbyshire Falcons – New Road
August 2 – Yorkshire Vikings – Headingley
August 4 – Leicestershire Foxes – New Road
August 11 – Northants Steelbacks – New Road
August 13 – Derbyshire Falcons – County Ground, Derby
August 15 – Durham Jets – Riverside
August 23 – Birmingham Bears – Edgabston
August 25 – Lancashire Lightning – New Road
August 28 – Notts Outlaws – New Road
August 30 – Northants Steelbacks – Northampton