Critics are ill-advised says Newton (From Worcester News)

Critics are ill-advised says Newton

8:30am Monday 3rd August 2009 in

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MARK Newton has come out in defence of director of cricket Steve Rhodes as the pressure grows on the New Road chief.

Without a win in the championship, Worcestershire are rooted to the foot of the table, have crashed out of the Friends Provident Trophy and the Twenty20 Cup, while the NatWest Pro40 has yet to get in full swing.

Yes, the County have played some good one-day cricket, but that really does count for little when they capitulated to minnows Ireland and missed out on a lucrative home-quarter final in the FPT.

But the Worcestershire chief executive feels that, despite the problems on the pitch, the critics have been harsh.

“Just look at the past two seasons,” said Newton. “We won the Pro40 title and we got promoted last year.

“Of course, we are all frustrated by the results this year, but you don’t become a bad team overnight.

“We are all behind Steve, myself, the chairman and the board and for some people to start saying we need a change of coach after a few bad results is ill-advised.

“There is always room to refresh things, but Steve is Worcestershire through and through and he is part of the very fabric of this club.”

Everyone knows that injuries have struck the County hard this term — last season’s leading wicket-taker Kabir Ali has only played five games in all competitions this year due to hamstring and back injuries respectively. Simon Jones has not played because of a knee injury, Chris Whelan is facing a spell in the treatment room due to a side-strain, overseas all-rounder Ashley Noffke has returned home, slow left-arm spinner Ian Fisher has not featured in four-day games, while off-spinner Gareth Batty is woefully out of form in the championship.

The cupboard is pretty bare and all that is left is one experienced seamer in Matt Mason who is bowling more than he should, while the rest are inexperienced and coming up short.

But to point the blame solely at the bowling is wrong. As a batting unit, opener Stephen Moore has struggled, Ben Smith has not come to the party, while the remainder have been hit and miss.

Worcestershire are gearing up for life in Division Two. They may be saying the right things about not giving up the fight, but the reality is that the fight was all but over at the beginning of this month.