EVERGREEN opener Daryl Mitchell will achieve another personal milestone when the Vitality Blast gets under way this evening (Thursday).
The Worcestershire Rapids player’s next appearance in the Blast will be his 150th in T20 cricket – all of them for the county.
Mitchell made his T20 debut in 2005 as a lower order batsman-bowler and returned to that role last summer when he played 15 of the Rapids’ 16 completed matches.
In between have been stints in the middle order and even opening the innings – the role he occupies in red ball cricket and in which he clocked up his 200th first class appearance against Derbyshire last week – 196 of them for Worcestershire.
Mitchell said: “You don’t set out to hit these milestones but it shows a decent longevity in the game and relative consistency. It’s something I’m pretty proud of.
“It’s not been so much this year unfortunately so far but over a period of time I’m relatively pleased with my efforts and hope it can continue for a couple more years yet.
“I guess 200 first class appearances for Worcestershire would be a bigger achievement in reaching that milestone for one club.
“With the T20 appearances, I guess timing is important really. I came into the side relatively early on after the competition had started. From 2005 on, I’ve been in the side pretty regularly.
“I remember my debut was at Taunton and I guess I’ve gone full circle in my T20 career. In those days I was that lower order batter who bowled quite a bit. I’ve gone through phases of batting.
“Last year I was back down to where I started really, batting eight or nine and being more of a bowler.”