alex gidman has returned to New Road as second eleven coach as part of the new-look coaching team.
gidman has overseen the seconds successful trophy campaign but also worked as a coach at various stages with the senior side in their march to the last four of the royal london one-day cup.
the former gloucestershire batsman looked back at his first few months with the county in a question and answer session with the worcestershire ccc website.
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question: it’s approximately the half-way stage in the season with the seconds, you must take a lot of satisfaction from the first half of the programme?
alex gidman: “we’ve done a lot of good stuff but, as you would expect with a young and inexperienced group, we’ve done some stuff that hasn’t been so good but that’s part of the job, part of the learning.
“but on the whole, we’ve reached the semi-finals (of the trophy) which was a good achievement. that’s all it was. it was a good achievement, it wasn’t a great achievement but we’ve made some progress and it is about learning from that and moving on.”
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question: is it all about the development of the youngsters?
alex gidman: “yes and no. each team has a different philosophy on second team cricket and mine is very much developing youngsters but, at the same time, learning how to win and compete over one-day or three-days.
“like i say, we’ve done that well but we’ve also done it not so well at times.”
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question: the championship form has been up and down?
alex gidman: “it has been a little bit inconsistent. we’ve had some solid performances. we’ve played some good teams. i’ve been really impressed with the standard of cricket.
“with our injuries, it has been a challenging time. we’ve had a lot of triallists and non-contracted players and that’s made it tough but the lads have conducted themselves very well and tried very hard.
“on the whole it has been very pleasing and i’m looking forward to the next few weeks.”
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question: with the triallists, you’ve no doubt had to delve into your contact books?
alex gidman: “it’s been hard. we’ve just had one of those periods as a squad where we’ve had a lot of injuries.
“with the 50 over competition being successful with the first team, the squad has been stretched but it is what it is.
“it’s not an excuse. we’ve all been in this position before in terms of my career and alan’s. we are used to it. it’s not come as a shock. it doesn’t make it any easier to manage when it happens.”
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question: days like last tuesday against west indies a when six or seven lads were in the squad must give you a lot of satisfaction?
alex gidman: “it was great the other day to see people like jack haynes and josh dell really buzzing and genuinely excited about playing.
“it was really enjoyable to see those lads playing and they enjoyed it. it was a huge tick in the box of the young lads in terms of their development.
“it was very pleasing and quite inspiring for the rest of us.”
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question: you must also be pleased to see jack haynes and adam finch in the england under-19 squad?
alex gidman: “extremely excited for them. they are both very talented players. we haven’t seen that much of them for educational reasons but in my opinion they’ve got potentially massive futures if they both want it – and, as things stand, they’ve shown they do want it enough.
“they are at the very early stages of their journey so we need to be very patient and very wary that it’s not a smooth side but to be called up into the under-19s is great for them and we are all very much looking forward to watching them develop and grow.”
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question: have you got any lads back now for the rest of the summer after educational commitments?
alex gidman: “milts (alex milton) has joined us full-time as has finchy (adam finch) before he goes and joins england under-19s and josh dell has joined us full-time so we’ve got a little bit more depth now.
“we’ve got a bit of bolstering now which is good, not just for the second team but, most importantly, for the first team as well.
“we can start to challenge for some places and hopefully that is good for the whole team.”
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question: are you enjoying the role?
alex gidman: “i’m absolutely loving it. it’s been great. the lads have been fantastic. i’ve enjoyed building new relationships with them. it is a very different role.
“i think actually being away from the group was extremely important and very powerful because it’s like a fresh start.
“i’m really pleased i went away and learnt a lot about other stuff as well as cricket. i think that was really important.
“i’ve really enjoyed working with the other coaches and i’m looking forward to hopefully some development within the group over the next few months.”
