Worker sets sights on top-order spot
If George Worker can score in India like he has been in England, then he’ll be a shoo-in for a spot at the top of the order for the Black Caps.
The Central Districts batsman last week arrived home from a ridiculous season of run scoring in club cricket in England and yesterday was on a plane with the New Zealand A team to tour India, his first trip to the subcontinent.
Worker spent the New Zealand off season playing for English club Knowle & Dorridge in the Birmingham & District Premier League and he scored 1569 runs, averaging 142.6 from 15 innings, including nine centuries.
The Black Caps are naming the squad for a tour of India while the A side is away and while Worker is a good chance to fill a spot there he said there is a lot of depth in the top order.
The Black Caps have struggled to find a consistent opening pair recently and Worker, who has been one of the top domestic batsmen for the past two seasons, could fill that role.
‘‘I guess there’s a few spots available for that ODI tour after the A tour,’’ he said. ‘‘I won’t be worrying about it.
‘‘I’ll be going out there trying to perform and carry on my good form like I have over the last couple of seasons.’’
The 28-year-old Worker has been on the fringe of the New Zealand limited overs side for the past two years, playing four one-dayers and two Twenty20s.
He has scored more than 600
"I'll be going out there trying to perform and carry on my good form like I have over the last couple of seasons."
George Worker
runs in the past two one-day competitions and been a heavy scorer in the past two Plunket Shield campaigns too.
Worker said he should play both the four-dayers and open with now-regular test opener Jeet Raval, then in the five one-day games he will open with explosive Auckland batsman Glenn Phillips.
The trip to India is also a good chance for Worker to use his leftarm spin on the Indian decks. He has been in action bowling a lot with Knowle & Dorridge, snaring 27 wickets at an average of 12.63, with a best of 7-32.
‘‘Hopefully, I’ll just have to see. The conditions will be favourable to a bit of spin.’’
The Indian decks will be a lot different from the ones he was playing on in England for Knowle & Dorridge. With them he broke a 39-year record for for most runs in a season by an individual batsman.
He beat West Bromwich Dartmouth’s Doug Slade, who scored 1407 runs at an average of 117.25 in 1978, scoring seven centuries.
Among Worker’s scores were 183, 169 not out, 104, 138 not out, 173, 57, 63, 157, 192 not out and 124.
‘‘The standard of club cricket is pretty good. It’s renowned as the best in England.
‘‘The one thing that helped me was the pitches were good. You come across wickets that are a bit green and a bit wet and you have these slow dibbly-dobbly bowlers.
‘‘It does make a difference because the wickets are good.’’
Worker missed the last game when he returned to New Zealand, but the club still won the league.
While he was there he was allowed to do a bit of travelling and had access to the training facilities at Edgbaston, the test ground in Birmingham.
A handful of county cricketers played club cricket while they weren’t playing for Warwickshire or Worcester, and there were a few overseas players in the grade too.