FOLLOWING last week’s defeat by reigning three-day and T20 champions Oxfordshire, Herefordshire face another tough task when they head north to take on Cumbria in their second 50-over group match at Cockermouth.
Cumbria finished runners-up in this competition last season and began this term’s campaign last Sunday with a three-wicket win over Lincolnshire at Scunthorpe.
To make things still more difficult, injuries and lack of availability have hampered coach Richard Skyrme’s preparation.
Skipper Matt Pardoe is unavailable while his appointed deputy Nick Hammond is ruled out with an injured thumb.
This means that former Burghill & Tillington and now Kidderminster all-rounder Barney Morgan, who has previously led the county’s second team, will captain the first team for the first time.
Morgan and fellow all-rounder Zain ul Hassan batted impressively last Sunday to rebuild the Herefordshire innings after a disastrous early collapse, which left the county’s innings at 31-7, effectively derailed any hopes of victory.
All-rounder Jasper Davidson, who badly dislocated a finger on his debut against Oxfordshire at Eastnor last Sunday, is also ruled out by injury while Ben Chapman-Lilley and Romesh Venkataraman are in the midst of university exams.
This means a recall for Jake Rowe, who played in the T20 victories over Devon earlier in the season, and for Conor Smith and Awais Mohammed, key members of the Western Division 2 title-winning team last season.
There’s also a first appearance for Ombersley left-arm seamer Elliott Mason.
Play at Cockermouth will begin at 11am.
Herefordshire: Barney Morgan (capt), Conor Smith, Jujhar Johal, Jake Rowe, Shameer Ahmed, James Rudge, Zak Abbas, Luke Powell, Zain ul Hassan, Elliot Mason, Awais Mohammed. Twelfth man: Charlie Skyrme.
CAPTION: Awais Mohammed, an impressive performer for Herefordshire last season, makes his seasonal debut at Cockermouth.
