Graeme Welch calls on Derbyshire Falcons to end T20 Blast on a high against Worcestershire Rapids

Derbyshires HD Rutherford swings GJ Maxwell to the long on boundary.

The Falcons have won four out of their six home NatWest T20 Blast fixtures this season and will be aiming to end the campaign with back-to-back wins after defeating Yorkshire Vikings at Chesterfield last time out.

Welch said: “We’ve entertained the home crowd in T20s this year, we have won four out of six at home, and the other two were exciting games. It’s the away games where we haven’t picked up results.

“I hope the supporters have enjoyed watching us on Friday nights. We have put on a few good performances, and hopefully we can end on a high this Friday with another home win.

“We’ve played quite good cricket the last few games. The NatWest T20 Blast has been really volatile and if we had beaten Northants at Chesterfield and Durham at home, we could have been in contention for the qualification places with how tight the league is.

“I knew the Durham game was a massive game for us as it was just at the start of the competition. It would have given us some belief, the lads would have trusted their methods a little bit more.

“Everyone has beaten each other. We have beaten Lancashire who were the finalists last year, we beat Leicestershire who we haven’t beaten for a long time and we were very close to doing the double over Notts.

“There is definite progression and improvement, those two or three tight finishes have cost us and we could have been somewhere in the mix.”

Worcestershire sit in second place in the North Group with three games remaining.

Added Welch: “The confidence we have gained over the last few games will hopefully stand us in good stead for Friday night.

“When we played at Worcestershire, Moeen Ali won them the game, he got a few wickets and a quick half-century. Then there is Daryl Mitchell who is a proven batsman and Jack Shantry knows how to bowl in T20 cricket.

“They seem to have quite a good formula, but like I say we should have beaten Northants, we put in a good performance against Notts at Trent Bridge and we’ve just had a good result against Yorkshire so hopefully we can end on a high on Friday.”