RAPIDS chief Alex Gidman said he remains confident Worcestershire can put together a winning run to climb the Vitality Blast table after a ‘very brutal start’ to their North Group campaign.
The Rapids launched the 2022 programme with four successive away defeats before Friday’s thrilling win over the Birmingham Bears at New Road.
Colin Munro shone with the bat for the second time in 48 hours as the Rapids went down by 12 runs in a closely fought battle with Lancashire Lightning at Emirates Old Trafford on Sunday (May 29)
The New Zealand star followed up his 66 against Notts Outlaws on Friday evening with another excellent knock of 53 from 36 balls.
Gidman said the flip side to the fixture list was some tough games out of the way.
“We are all aware it is a very brutal start to a campaign. Three or four outstanding teams, all away from home, the fixtures very close to each other, with very little preparation for the competition,” he said.
“I’m fully confident we can get on a run at some stage and give ourselves a chance of climbing the table.
“We try and take every game as deep as possible, which is something Mo (Moeen Ali) has installed in the group, and I thought we did that really, really well, gave ourselves a chance.
“It is very early days and we certainly haven’t not performed. We just haven’t done quite enough to get over the line against two very good teams,” he added.
It’s a view echoed by Munro who believes Worcestershire can take a lot of encouragement from their performances in the opening trio of Vitality Blast games.
Munro has been impressed already with youngsters such as spinner Josh Baker and batter Jack Haynes in his few days since returning to the Rapids for a third
spell and says the future is bright at New Road.
“For us to have been in the hunt in all three games is promising,” he said.
“Not shying away from it, but we’ve got quite a young and inexperienced team, so if we can learn from these three games and put ourselves in positions like this more and more often, we will come out the right side.”