WORCESTERSHIRE captain, Daryl Mitchell, has said he feels his inexperienced side has enough quality to win promotion from Division Two of the County Championship this season.
Despite losing their leading strike bowler, Alan Richardson, who chose to take up a coaching role with Warwickshire, Mitchell said he thought his attack would be able to cope.
“Losing Richo was obviously a disappointing blow but I think the burden’s been lightened a little bit with Saeed Ajmal being here as our bowling overseas player,” he said.
“Hopefully he’ll take some of the wickets we’ll miss from Richo.
“But I think there’s some good young seamers in the squad they’ve got to dovetail across the season and make up for that loss between them.”
And Mitchell, who hit a magnificent unbeaten 172 in the drawn opener against Hampshire, said if his players could find more consistency in 2014 they would be in with a chance of returning to Division One.
“We’re confident. If you’re in Division Two there’s only one goal really and that’s to get out of it and try and get promotion so as far as I’m concerned that will be one of the goals,” he added.
“There’s some very good sides in Division Two again this year but if we can perform consistently, I think we got five wins last year, the same as Northants who went up, try and avoid those run of defeats we had last year and hopefully come September we’re in with a shout and push for that promotion.
“In four-day cricket you can get on a run and get momentum and in Saeed Ajmal we’ve got a matchwinner.
“And we should have plenty of runs in the side with Moeen Ali and myself, Alexei Kervezee and some of the young guys have really impressed in pre-season.
“I think there’s the ability there, it’s just about getting the best out of ourselves throughout the whole year.”
With Moeen Ali impressing in England colours over the winter and a leading contender to be called up to the Test side this summer, the captain said his other batsmen needed to step up.
“It was no surprise to any of us how well Moeen’s done when he stepped into that England shirt,” Mitchell added.
“There’s a real sense of pride from the club to have him there and it’s thoroughly deserved.
“He worked incredibly hard and put in some fantastic performances so everyone here wishes he gets in that Test side and has a long run in the England side in all formats.
“We wish him all the best.
“From our point of view we’ve all got to chip in and make up those runs. We’ve got some good young batters in Tom Kohler-Cadmore and Tom Fell and it will give them good opportunities to cement their place and really eke out a career in county cricket.”
Worcestershire play their first game of the season at New Road on Sunday (April 13) when they take on Kent in the County Championship. The game starts at 11am.
