Josh Tong's loss to Notts is a hammer blow for Pierce manager Alan Richardson. Photo: Dan Mullan/Getty Images
It was one of the most spectacular raids in the county in recent memory.
First up were Josh Tang, recently capped for England, and his close friend Dillon Pennington, another promising young fast bowler. Then Jack Haynes, the England Lions batsman who had also come through the academy, followed the pair from Worcestershire to Nottinghamshire, a route taken by Joe Clark, another fine all-round batsman, a few years earlier. Why do Nottinghamshire need an academy if they have New Road?
At the same time, two more home-grown players left, albeit for counties of similar size. Ben Cox, one of the country's best wicketkeepers and once part of the England Lions team, has moved to Leicestershire, while Pat Brown, a four-time T20 cap, has joined Mickey Arthur's Derbyshire project.
Losses of players is nothing new to Worcestershire. Their products are located in different parts of the country: Clarke in Nottingham, Tom Coler-Cadmore in Somerset (via Yorkshire) and Ed Barnard further down the road in Warwickshire. George Scrimshaw, who could make his England debut against Ireland this week, will join Northants from Derbyshire next season.
However, this year's game will be especially painful with so many players left in such a short period. time, and most of them are heading to one bigger and richer club that has a uniform for this kind of thing.
Dillon Pennington joined the beaten track from New Road to Trent Bridge. Photo: Stu Forster/Getty Images
Tang had been with Worcestershire since he was six years old and the club went through long periods of rehabilitation. He cited Kevin Shine, Nottinghamshire's bowling coach, as his reason for leaving, and while there are no bad feelings between the player and the club he is leaving, it must be a bitter pill for them to swallow. Alan Richardson, the head coach, admitted in an interview with Cricketer magazine last month that the news «really hurt» and that he was «completely gutted».
Despite being one of the country's most prolific producers of talent, Worcestershire ranks among the county's poorest in cricket. Money is tight and ECB handouts are helpful. They don't have floodlights on New Road or the boarding school, instead using the facilities of Malvern College (one of the local private schools, which also provides a constant supply of talent) in the winter. It was hoped that the indoor center at the University of Worcester would be completed earlier this year, but this did not happen. Richardson helped paint the club's offices this winter.
Some might call the club old-fashioned. Earlier this year they hired Ashley Giles as CEO. The highly experienced former England international essentially fills two very important and well-paid roles in other counties. He replaced two figures with pleasantly archaic job titles. The first is the unpaid position of club legend Paul Pridgeon as chairman of the «cricket leadership group», the de facto director of cricket. The second is the role of Sara Gluyas as the company secretary, and in fact the general director.
Yet despite all this, Worcestershire continues to fight on. With two rounds to go they are in a box seat to join Durham in promotion to Division One this season. The news that Sussex will be deducted 12 points for poor discipline means Worcestershire are 21 points off third place, so despite a tough run-in (games against Durham and Yorkshire), they are hot favorites for promotion. It was not a good year in the Second Division — nor in the lower parts of the First Division — with only Durham showing consistent class. However, this should not worry Worcestershire fans.
How would they hypothetically fare in the First Division without the players leaving? Well, Giles has already started a quiet rebuild, with Tom Taylor, a great player from Northants, and the arrival of Rob Jones and Ethan Brooks. Consistent all-rounders are the watchword for counties like Worcestershire these days.
If Giles had taken his place a little earlier, perhaps some of these players might have stayed. He has experience and connections in the game, as well as knowledge of the county system from his experience managing Lancashire, Warwickshire and England. He appears well placed to lead the county forward.
Worcestershire is a yo-yo club. Since 2003 (a period that includes two years affected by the pandemic, without promotion or demotion, they have been promoted six times and demoted six times. New Road may be bucolic, but it is rarely boring — as this year shows ).
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