BIG-HITTING Rapids all-rounder Ross Whiteley is a ‘scary proposition’ for opposing bowlers, according to skipper Joe Leach.
Whiteley’ marked his first senior innings of the campaign by smashing 58 off just 39 balls with three sixes and seven fours in the 50-run home win over Derbyshire in the Royal London One-Day Cup. Having scored 323-6 off their 50 overs, Worcestershire then dismissed Derbyshire for 273 all out.
It was another demonstration of the savage hitting which earned the Whiteley winter stints in the Bangladesh Premier League and Pakistan Super League.
“Travis (Head) and Felly (Tom Fell) to begin with, then Dolly (Brett D’Oliveira) with his impetus and then Coxy (Ben Cox) and Rosco (Ross Whiteley) and Barny (Ed Barnard) with his little cameo at the end, they were all fantastic and it was very pleasing to see,” Leach said.
“I think 320 was well over par. The wicket wasn’t the easiest to score on and I thought both sides got above par in the end. I thought it was 260-270 wicket.
“Our assault at the end was pretty devastating. We’ve seen Ross and Coxy do that before.”
“The innings was paced perfectly. When you have got Ross walking out at number seven, with 10-12 overs to go, it is a pretty scary proposition for the bowling side.
“Speaking from a bowling point of view, it’s pretty horrible really. Our batting depth is one of our main strengths in this competition.
“With the ball, potentially we let them get a few more than we would have liked. Credit to Wayne Madsen [who scored 87]. I thought he played a phenomenal innings once again against us.
“We’ve outfielded them as well which is what we pride ourselves on. We are an athletic team and it lends itself nicely to this format.
“I thought we ran exceptionally well between the wickets in the last 30 overs of our innings and I thought our fielding was high class as well.
“We want to get better and if we keep improving that’s going to stand us in good stead over the course of this tournament.”
The Rapids skipper was relieved to get the county’s first win on the board after four defeats in five County Championship games.
“Has the change of competition come at the right time? It’s hard to say that it hasn’t to be honest. You look at our side on paper and it’s arguably our strongest format, the 50 over game,” he added. “We’ve had a disappointing start to the season, there is no getting away from that. Fingers crossed we kick on this tournament.”
The Rapids tackle Yorkshire Vikings at Headingley today.