HEREFORDSHIRE have named five new faces in their squad for their opening NCCA 50-over clash with Devon at Bovey Tracey on Sunday.
And, with captain Luke Tulacz and coach Sean Hooper also at the helm for the first time in a competitive match, it’s clear that the winds of change have blown through the county side during the winter.
Leading the newcomers is all-rounder George Rhodes, 32, who has joined Herefordshire from Suffolk after a long first-class career with Worcestershire and Leicestershire.
Rhodes, who bats in the middle-order and bowls off-spin, will help to replace some of the top-flight experience lost following former skipper Matt Pardoe’s move to Buckinghamshire.
There will be another new face at the top of the batting order with the arrival of Old Hill opener Hasan Ahmed, 22.
In the middle-order, Barnards Green batsman Sam Clements is also making his bow, while left-arm paceman Theo Barker joins the attack.
Barker, 21, has moved to the area from Sussex where he played Premier League cricket with Cuckfield, and has joined Brockhampton.
Also travelling with the squad to act as 12th man is Harry Friend, 23, who played his early cricket at Ross-on-Wye and has been a regular in the Wales National Counties squad for the past few seasons.
With Herefordshire now required to field four ‘homegrown’ players in every match, Friend will be a welcome addition to the squad.
Herefordshire’s home quartet on this occasion will be Tulacz, wicket-keeper batsman Luke Powell, batsman Ollie Langford and Barker.
Herefordshire’s women, meanwhile, travel to Northampton to take on Northamptonshire in the ECB Women’s County Championship – Vitality T20 Women’s County Cup 2026.
Herefordshire: Luke Tulacz, Hasan Mahmood, Hasan Ahmed, Roshan Venkataraman, George Rhodes, Luke Powell, Sam Clements, Ollie Langford, James Rudge, Ciaran Baker-Smith, Theo Barker. Twelfth man: Harry Friend.
