Kadeer Ali has praised the impact made by Worcestershire newcomer Taylor Cornall and said he is “knocking on the door” to step up from the Seconds after a mountain of runs.
Opener Cornall this week became the first player to score two centuries in a Second Eleven Championship match for Worcestershire for 17 years.
The left-hander batted for more than TWELVE hours during the drawn match with Glamorgan Seconds at Newport.
Cornall has now struck four hundreds in all cricket in his last five innings in his first season at New Road to step up his claims.
Seconds Coach Kadeer said: “Taylor is doing what he needs to do, which is to get in and get big hundreds, and he has four in his last five innings in all cricket.
“He is in some really good form and is knocking on the door, and all he can do is what he is doing at the minute, scoring big runs and putting pressure on.
“Been very impressed with him this winter. He was very impressive in that trial match at Scarborough at the end of last season and has continued that on.
“What stood out for us is the way he wants to occupy the crease and likes to do bat the whole day. He is a bit old school, but he looks to bat as long as he can and doesn’t seem to get bored with it, which is great.
“He is setting a really good example for the younger lads, the Academy lads, who are playing. He and Tom Fell, in the second innings against Glamorgan, were outstanding.”
Kadeer was delighted with how the Seconds fought back to secure a draw and 12 points at New port after Glamorgan had reached 447-1 in reply to Worcestershire’s 339-9.
He said: “We were a little bit under par with the bat with 340 or so in the first innings. We should have got more, although Taylor was outstanding.
“With the ball, we struggled to get our lines right. We tried to bowl nice and full but were a bit too wide.
“We talked about it on day three in the morning and bounced back really well and bowled nicely, hit good lengths.
“We bowled well as a unit, and Reeve Evitts and Cameron Jones picked up five or six wickets between them.
“With the bat, we addressed the first innings and that, if you do get in on wickets like this, you have to cash in, and Tom Fell and Taylor AGAIN were outstanding.
“A lot of good stuff, and it was outstanding the way we fought back after the first couple of days.”
*The last Worcestershire player to score a century in both innings of a SEC match was Daryl Mitchell with 181 and 120 against Warwickshire at Ombersley in 2005.
The stand of 279 between Cornall and Fell at Newport fell just seven runs short of the highest opening stand for Worcestershire in the SEC.
This was achieved by Peter Stimpson (153 not out) and David Stewart (124 not out) during a partnership of 286 versus Glamorgan at another ground in Newport at Rodney Parade in 1971.
