Worcestershire Metro Bank One Day Cup captain Jake Libby has stressed the importance of managing the crop of youngsters being given their chance in the 50 over tournament.
Pace bowler Jack Home was rested for yesterday’s encounter with Northamptonshire Steelbacks after his six wicket haul against Derbyshire 48 hours earlier.
Harry Darley, Tommy Sturgess and Hishaam Khan have also been rotated at various stages, either in the Vitality Blast, as was the case with Darley, or the One Day Cup.
It is a massive step up physically and mentally to senior level and Home admitted after the Derbyshire game that he had expected to be playing Under-18 cricket for the Academy this summer.
Libby said: “The position we are in as a club, we have got a lot of injuries, that’s the harsh reality of the situation.
“We’ve got to manage these youngsters, and that’s what we are doing.
“It’s very exciting to see these guys get an opportunity and bowl as quick certainly as Jack does.
“But in the same breath, you’ve got to manage him at his age.”
Libby has also urged the young crop of players to learn from the experience of facing proven opposition.
He said: “That’s what we said in the dressing room after the Northamptonshire game. It’s good learning to see how they played and bowl against high calibre and high quality opposition.
“Hopefully the boys will learn a lot from that, and take a lot from that, moving forward, and will keep getting better and that’s the plan.”
