THE BATTING efforts of the Pears’ lower order have been compared to the all-conquering Worcestershire side of the late 1980s and early 1990 by director of cricket Steve Rhodes.
Back then, the likes of Rhodes, Phil Newport, Richard Illingworth, Stuart Lampitt and Neal Radford came to the rescue on many occasions.
The pitches at New Road often meant their services were needed – even allowing for having the prolific Graeme Hick in his prime.
Rhodes was the lynchpin of their line-up with nearly 15,000 first class runs at an average of almost 33, batting primarily at number seven but the others all played their part when needed.
Similar feats have been performed in the current campaign when the top five have struggled via various combinations of Ross Whiteley, Ben Cox, Joe Leach, Ed Barnard, Matt Henry and Jack Shantry.
Rhodes acknowledged the efforts of the front-line batsman during the first half of the season and said they laid the foundations for maximum batting points to be accrued more often than not.
But in recent weeks the Pears have been grateful for the efforts of their colleagues who rescued the side from 34-5 and 54-5 in the first innings of the Specsavers County Championship matches with Gloucestershire and Leicestershire.
“We have had many occasions where the ‘back end boys’, as I call them, the guys like Ross and Coxy and Joe Leach and Barny and Matt Henry have really done us proud,” Rhodes said.
“They have got us out of tricky situations and given us something to bowl at – and that does remind me of a lot of times when I was growing up at Worcester.
“We’d often lose the top order because it was tricky conditions but then the back end boys would certainly give us something to stay in the game.
“As you saw in the last game against Northants, the score we eventually did get (277) was more than a useful score because we bowled them out cheaply both innings.
Rhodes added: “It is easy to say ‘we’d rather our top order do it’ but our top order do the business as well.
“We are a team and 11 people bat and if that top order does struggle, we’ve got the rearguard action from the others.
“But good sides need that and we pride ourselves on the way our bowlers bat and hopefully it is going to stand us in good stead going forward,” he added.
