Captain Moeen Ali admits he is hurting after Worcestershire Rapids’ below-par performance against Northamptonshire Steelbacks but expects the side to “come back fighting” against Derbyshire Falcons in Friday’s Vitality Blast game at New Road.
The Rapids went down by 73 runs at Wantage Road after a Chris Lynn hundred helped the Steelbacks to 220-3, and then the Rapids were dismissed for 147.
Moeen says everyone, including himself, “have to look at what you are bringing to the team” after disappointing showings against Leicestershire Foxes and the Steelbacks following the euphoria of last Friday’s win over Birmingham Bears.
The England all-rounder said: “This hurts me, absolutely, 100 per cent. The last couple of games have been the worst games I’ve captained in terms of how we have played.
“I know (Chris) Lynn played really well, and he’s difficult to stop sometimes, but apart from DJ (Bravo), we were poor with the ball and in the field, which is not like us.
“Generally, even if we’re not playing well, at least we field really well and, with the bat, chasing a big score, we lost three wickets early on.
“Confidence is really low at the minute, but we need to try and turn that around quickly for Friday’s game.”
Moeen added: “Sometimes, as individuals, including myself, you have to look at what you’re bringing to the team.
“When I say that, I need to score my runs and bowl well and the team, as individuals, need to do that as well.
“This is probably the first year I can think of with me as captain that we haven’t played well consistently.
“But we’ve still a got a lot of fight, and we’ll come back fighting from tomorrow. We will talk about that tomorrow morning, and we will show that fight.
“I’m sure the guys are disappointed, but tomorrow is a new day, a new game and put it right.”
Bravo finished with figures of 2-15 from four overs in a superb spell of T20 bowling.
Moeen said: “Unbelievable, and he just shows how good he is there. He shows all his experience, his quality, the reason why he has been so good for so long.
“He has adapted his game immensely over the years as he has got older. Quality, quality bowling.”
