7:30am Tuesday 23rd February 2010
By Michael Reeves
WORCESTERSHIRE director of cricket Steve Rhodes has called for patience from the club’s supporters after rebuilding the squad for the new season.
Following the departures of key players in Steve Davies, Kabir Ali, Simon Jones, Stephen Moore and Gareth Batty, as well as the exits of Josh Knappett, Ian Fisher and Mehraj Ahmed, the New Road chief is relying on his youngster to come to the fore this term. But Rhodes is not expecting them to be an overnight success as they look to improve on 2009 .
“There is a lot to look forward to this season,” he told members at last night’s an-nual meeting. “But it is important that we are patient.
“The younger players are going to need time to develop as we rebuild Worcestershire County Cricket Club.
“However, what we do have now is a squad of players that want to play for us.”
Rhodes is keen to look to the future and believes the likes of Richard Jones, Alexei Kervezee, Chris Whelan and 17-year-old wicketkeeper Ben Cox have the potential to shine in the coming season.
The overseas signings of Australians Phil Jaques and Steven Smith, as well as the capture of Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan has provided some optimism.
At the club’s annual meeting last night, held at New Road for the first time in more than half-century, president Ken Mills was re-elected for another 12 months, chairman Martyn Price and director Clive Richards were also kept on the board, while University of Worcester vice-chancellor Professor David Green was named as a non-executive director.
Ex-County stars Tim Curtis and Neal Radford also had their election to the board for three years approved.
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