Head Coach Alex Gidman praised the performance of “very special” Worcestershire Rapids batter Colin Munro and said: “We are very lucky to have him.”
Munro defied jet lag to score a superb 66 off 43 balls in the Vitality Blast North Group encounter with Notts Outlaws at Trent Bridge on Friday evening.
He had only landed in England from New Zealand on Thursday morning but showed his commitment and class against one of the competition’s leading sides who were taken to the final over before triumphing.
Now Munro will be striving for more of the same when the Rapids play their third away game in five games against Lancashire Lightning at Old Trafford on Sunday.
Gidman, who was a team-mate of Munro’s at New Road during the 2015 season, said: “He played beautifully. Got off a plane yesterday, travelled up to Nottingham from London, slept a little bit overnight and then went and did that so a very special player.
“We are lucky to have him and looking forward to the next few weeks with him.
“I think he is feeling more than a bit of jet lag. I think he is very tired to be honest.
“But we know he is a great character and a great person so I wasn’t massively surprised when he told us he was landing on Thursday and wanted to play on Friday.
“Equally, world class players, they just tend to get on with their business, which he did at Trent Bridge, and he played really well and pleased for him to get his campaign going so well for us.”
Gidman added: “Can players learn off Munro? He is obviously going to help us. He strengthens us. Jack (Haynes) is at the beginning of his career from a batting point of view but, apart from that, we’ve got lads who have played a fair bit of cricket now.
“Colin can help players improve, but I don’t think there is too much to learn. It is just about applying ourselves and squeezing every single run out of every game we play.”
