ROSS Whiteley will have reaped the benefits of his winter of white-ball cricket when he returns to Worcestershire first-team action in the Royal London One-Day Cup, says Kevin Sharp.

The destructive batsman played in the Bangladesh Premier League and Pakistan Super League as well as the first T10 competition in UAE.

Now Whiteley is back with Rapids for the cup opener with Derbyshire Falcons on Saturday (11am) as they look to emulate last summer’s success when topping the North Group and reaching the semi-finals.

Head coach Sharp believes the left-hander will have learned from participating in the overseas tournaments.

He said: “Those sorts of experiences can only have helped Ross to develop as a player.

“He has been playing in some major tournaments in front of big crowds against and alongside some of the best white-ball exponents in the world.

“He went to Bangladesh and Pakistan for the T20 competitions and that is only good development for him.

“Hopefully it will stand him in good stead now he is back at Worcestershire.

“Ross is such a dangerous player when firing on all cylinders and to have him in the middle order on Saturday is going to be exciting.

“He showed in the T20 how destructive he can be with six sixes against Yorkshire (in 2017) and got his rewards for that by being selected in tournaments around the world.

“It will be like having a new player and that always gives a lift. It was like with Ben Twohig making his debut in the Championship.”

Whiteley said: “The PSL (with Multan Sultans) was a fantastic experience among some amazing players - Kumar Sangakkara playing his last tournament, Kevin Pietersen, Shane Watson and lots of other top guys. Being among those players was fantastic and I’ve learnt a hell of a lot.

“My team got off to a real flier and then hit a bump and fell away towards the end which was a bit of a shame.

“We played some really good cricket but were just on the wrong side of it.

“I played three matches. It was tough to get a game so I missed out on the first few and it is quite tough coming in when you’ve not really played much.

“If you are not playing it is also hard to practice with the schedule we had. You are really trying just to do as much as you can to get yourself ready and up to the pace of the game.

“But I learnt a hell of a lot and moving forward hopefully I can put into practice what I’ve learned these last few months with Worcestershire.”