brett d’oliveira has been passed fit to be part of the worcestershire rapids squad for tomorrow’s vitality blast quarter-final with gloucestershire at New Road (3pm start).
the rapids all-rounder suffered a finger injury when fielding during a second team game at barnt green and was not available for the final blast game with birmingham bears at edgbaston.
but the 26-year-old is part of a 14 strong squad named by head coach kevin sharp.
moeen ali has been released by england and will skipper the side as they bid to secure a place at finals day for the first time.
he said: “we want to get to that semi-final-final (finals day). we’ve played good cricket throughout the whole season so we are in a good place.
“we’ve been close before. we have got to quarter-finals before and want to take that extra step.”
callum ferguson will play the final game of his current spell with worcestershire against gloucestershire although he is returning to New Road in 2019 for the majority of the season.
sharp confirmed that ferguson will be returning to australia early next week to prepare for the domestic campaign down under with south australia.
on loan nottinghamshire paceman luke wood is also part of the squad tomorrow and will be looking to reach another finals day after achieving that with his parent club in 2017.
sharp said: “we are in a good place. we had a day off thursday and practiced really hard and well today.
“the lads are in good spirits, the weather is set fair for tomorrow, i’m sure there will be a good crowd.
“we will probably never be in a better place to play this sort of game. we haven’t really over-cooked the discussion on it.
“it is easy to say ‘it is just another game.’ it is – but the club has never been to a finals day and we are fully aware of that and want to achieve that.”
worcestershire rapids (from):
moeen ali ©
clarke
ferguson
fell
d’oliveira
cox (w)
whiteley
barnard
parnell
mitchell
wood
pennington
carter
brown
