Harrison to bounce back, says Rhodes

By Paul Bolton, County News Correspondent

Worcestershire’s director of cricket Steve Rhodes has backed rookie seamer Nick Harrison to bounce back from two morale-sapping bowling performances in the county’s last two Clydesdale Bank 40 group matches.

Harrison suffered at the hands of Leicestershire’s Ned Eckersley last week and then conceded 83 runs in just seven overs when Lancashire’s Tom Smith and Stephen Moore ran riot at New Road on Sunday.

“It wasn’t a test of character for Nick particularly. He’s only a young lad but if he doesn’t get back on the horse when is he going to be capable of succeeding in the future,” Rhodes said.

“He’s a lad we have high hopes of for the future. He’s only 20 and he will learn a lot from these sort of days, actually probably more than from the days when he bowls a lot better. But he will come back and have his days against the likes of Tom Smith and Stephen Moore in the future.

“I think he’s got good character and I also think that he can bowl. Sadly he’s not quite got his line and length right at times and he’s disappointed. It’s a cruel lesson and it can be a dark place sometimes out there when it’s not working for you as a bowler. But he will come back. He’s agood lad, we believe in him and we are backing him.”

Harrison may have Rhodes’s backing but the same cannot be said of veteran batsman Vikram Solanki who may have played his last innings for the county.

Solanki has signed for Surrey next season and has been dropped for the current LV= County Championship match against Middlesex at New Road.

“We are just not getting any runs,” Rhodes said. “The bowlers are bowling well and we are taking wickets. A lot of that is down to Alan Richardson but Chris Russell has come to the party recently and Gareth Andrew got five wickets against Durham last week.

“So the bowling has been going OK, we just haven’t been getting enough runs. Because of that we have had to make changes to the batting. We have brought in a guy in Alexei Kervezee who has got a hundred and two 70s in the second team recently. We felt it was right that we play people when they are running hot and in form.”


Date: 28/08/2012 15:49:00 by Paul Bolton
In: Worcestershire | Today |