STAR bowler Liam O’Driscoll says he owes much of his match-winning performance for Worcester Nomads to team-mate Jon Inglis.

The 24-year-old all-rounder felt he was pitching his right-arm deliveries too short and so sought out his colleague to hone his accuracy.

A few sessions in the nets seem to have done the trick for O’Driscoll as he followed up a five-wicket haul against Pedmore last month with a remarkable eight-wicket return in the derby clash against Worcester.

He recorded figures of 8-32 off 14 overs in the Worcestershire League Division One clash to claim the Worcester News player-of-the-week award, for which he wins a £30 Fearnley Factory Shop voucher.

“It’s my best figures since I was in the under 11s and I got 6-18 against Winterfold House School,” O’Driscoll said.

“I got a bit lucky with the first couple, they got stuck in the pitch and tipped up to gully and square leg, but then I got into a bit of a rhythm. Once I got the first two I started bowling really well.

“It’s been a bit of a strange season. I have been bowling wide of the stumps and a bit short so I had a couple of nets with Jon Inglis and he’s really good at the short stuff so he’s made me pitch it up.

“He’s good at hammering all the short balls so he’s definitely helped me. I have been bowling OK but something just clicked.”

The University of Birmingham medical student’s haul, which also saw him clean bowl two batsmen, ensured Worcester were skittled for just 77 in 28.1 overs and Nomads needed just 10.3 overs to register a nine-wicket triumph.

O’Driscoll, who also scored an unbeaten 20 off 13 balls in the chase, said: “Once they were about five or six down we were thinking we should win and wanted to get them out quickly. Then we knocked them off in 10 overs.

“It was one of those days when we didn’t know if it was going to rain.

“We started at 1.30pm and finished at 4.15pm, so it was four hours earlier than usual but getting it done before the rain came was good.”

Nomads have a two-point cushion at the league summit after seven games but only four points separate the top four sides with Oldswinford, who Nomads visit on Saturday, a further 11 points back in fifth.

O’Driscoll added: “It’s nice to be top of the league but there are a few teams up there at the moment.

“It’s a good division this season and any of those five clubs could win it.”