Match times, streaming information, tickets and travel, team news, head-to-head record, weather forecast, prediction, and everything else you need to know ahead of the latest round of the LV= Insurance County Championship...
Fixture: Worcestershire v Derbyshire
Venue: New Road, Worcester
Dates: Thursday, May 27, 2021 - Sunday, May 30, 2021
Start time: 11am
What's the lowdown?
In a bottom-of-the-table clash, both Worcestershire and Derbyshire will be seeking their first win of the campaign.
Worcestershire are coming off a heavy defeat by Nottinghamshire at the weekend as they lost by an innings and 170 runs. The Pears have lost two and drawn five so far this season and have been affected by the consistently average weather.
Derbyshire sit at the bottom of group one with 54 points. They have two losses and four draws in the campaign so far and are coming into this game after another draw against Durham.
Who's in form?
Jake Libby is in superb form for Worcestershire with 611 runs in 11 inns, giving him an average of 67.89. In a frustrating game against Nottinghamshire last week, Libby managed to squeeze a half-century out of the Pears' second innings.
Derbyshire seamer Ben Aitchison finished the game against Durham with career-best figures of 6 for 28 before the game predictably met a wet end. Matt Critchley narrowly missed out on a half-century but managed to add three wickets by the end of the game.
Last five first-class matches (most recent first)
Worcestershire: LLDDD
Derbyshire: DLLDD
Head-to-head first-class record
Total matches: 146
Worcestershire wins: 44
Derbyshire wins: 48
Draws: 54
Abandoned: 4
What's the team news?
Worcestershire bring Ross Whiteley into a 12-man squad following some impressive performances in the 2nd XI.
Allrounder Ed Barnard is also included, after being rested for the heavy defeat by Nottinghamshire.
Worcestershire squad: Daryl Mitchell, Jake Libby, Tom Fell, Jack Haynes, Brett D’Oliveira, Ross Whiteley, Ben Cox, Ed Barnard, Alzarri Joseph, Joe Leach (c), Josh Tongue, Dillon Pennington
Derbyshire have named a 12-man squad to face Worcestershire, including Australian Ben McDermott for the first time after his arrival last week.
Luis Reece misses out once again as he continues to recover from a knee injury, while Harvey Hosein misses out due to concussion protocols after being struck on the head against Durham. Overseas seamer Billy Stanlake will miss the remainder of the season with a stress fracture.
Derbyshire squad: Billy Godleman (c), Leus du Plooy, Wayne Madsen, Ben McDermott, Matt Critchley, Alex Hughes, Brooke Guest, Fynn Hudson-Prentice, Anuj Dal, Sam Conners, Ben Aitchison, Dustin Melton
Latest Worcestershire news: Click here
Latest Derbyshire news: Click here
Who's said what?
Worcestershire head coach Alex Gidman is excited to send his troops out in front of a home crowd at New Road.
He said: “For us, although we’ve had a lot of cricket, it feels like a fresh start. The lads have been chatting about having fans back at New Road.
“We’ve missed the familiar and friendly faces. We know they are a knowledgeable supporter base, and they will get behind the team.
“Really looking to seeing them again, albeit from a distance, and we hope they enjoy the cricket, and the lads are looking forward to seeing them too.”
Although Ben McDermott has predominantly joined Derbyshire for white-ball cricket, head of cricket Dave Houghton has confirmed his availability for the County Championship as well.
“Should we want to use Ben in our four-day games, we can. He arrived on Friday morning,” Houghton told BBC Radio Derby.
“We will get him down and around the team, but he’s keen to play first-class cricket, so that’s a bonus for us.
“It also means that Dustin Melton, who is contracted as an overseas player, will potentially be able to play more games of cricket. That was a situation we were going to have to manage well with both Ben and Billy [Stanlake] here.”
What's the weather forecast?
Dry throughout all four days in Worcester. Cloudy with sunny intervals for the first three days before turning into clear skies on Sunday. Highs of 20 degrees Celsius on Saturday and Sunday, highs of 18 on Thursday and Friday.
Keep up to date with the MetOffice’s rolling forecast for Worcester: Click here
How do I follow the match?
TV/stream: Worcestershire will offer live coverage of the match via their website: Click here
All LV= County Championship matches are also available via the ECB's central hub: Click here
The matches can also be viewed on mobile via the ECB app.
Radio: BBC Local Radio and the BBC Sport website will carry ball-by-ball radio commentary of the game.
Digital: The Cricketer will carry live scorecards and daily updates from every LV= County Championship match in 2021, as well as the latest breaking news from around the counties and exclusive features. Visit our County Hub for more.
Going to the game?
Tickets
No tickets are on public sale for this fixture, will the club conducting a ballot of members.
Travel
Address: Worcestershire County Cricket Club, New Road, Worcester, WR2 4QQ
By car
From the north
From the M5 junction 7 follow the cricket stumps on the roadsigns to the ground.
From the south
From M5 junction 7 follow the cricket stumps on the road signs to the ground.
From the east
From the A422, Alcester, continue on this road to the roundabout junction with the A4440 (Swinesherd Way), take second exit at roundabout on to A44, continue to follow the A44 and it will lead you to New Road, the ground will be on your left.
From the west
From the A44, Evesham, stay on the A44 (east) and it will lead you to New Road, the ground will be on your left.
By bus: Once you are in Worcester city centre’s bus station that is beneath the Crown Gate Shopping Centre, walk out of the station, turn left, continue to walk straight ahead to a pedestrian crossing, walk across this and another pedestrian crossing, continue across the bridge over the Severn River and you will arrive at the ground on your left.
By train: Worcester Foregate Street is the closest train station to the ground and is approximately half a mile from the ground. To get to the ground from Foregate Street station turn left out of the main entrance, head towards the cross where you turn right onto Broad Street. Continue straight, across two pedestrian crossings to get to the other side of New Road, walk over the bridge and you will shortly arrive at the ground on your left.
Prediction?
With dry weather throughout, it will give both teams a chance to play an undisturbed game of cricket. Worcester have home advantage and with fans being allowed back into the grounds, they will get an extra boost. With that in mind, we’re going for a Worcestershire win.
OTHER ROUND 8 MATCH PREVIEWS
Group 1
Warwickshire v Nottinghamshire
Group 2
Group 3
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