With thanks to Paul Bolton @ NCCA for providing the National Counties updates
There will be some familiar faces playing in unfamiliar places when the National Counties season gets underway in June.
Two former Worcestershire players, Alexei Kervezee and George Rhodes, will be playing for Herefordshire this year having moved from Buckinghamshire and Suffolk respectively.
Kervezee led Buckinghamshire to the NCCA Cluberly Championship title last season but the victory in the final against Devon at West Bromwich Dartmouth proved to be his last for the county.
The Netherlands international was appointed Worcestershire’s Second XI coach before Christmas and his commitments at New Road meant that he announced his departure from Buckinghamshire.
But Kervezee will now continue his National Counties playing career, which began with Shropshire in 2018, with Herefordshire’s close links with Worcestershire tying in nicely with his day job. Kervezee will play for Herefordshire when Rhodes is unavailable.
Kervezee swaps places with another Worcestershire batter, Matt Pardoe, who has stepped down as Herefordshire captain and joined Buckinghamshire where he is based as head of cricket at RGS High Wycombe.
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Pardoe’s successor as Herefordshire captain is batter Luke Tulacz who is only the sixth man to lead the county since they joined the National Counties ranks in 1992.
Rhodes’s commitments as cricket coach at Malvern College have also led him to stepping down as Suffolk’s professional after four years with the county. Instead Rhodes, who ended his first-class career with Leicestershire, will continue his National Counties career closer to home with Herefordshire.
Suffolk have recruited former Essex batter Feroze Khushi as Rhodes’s replacement and he will renew his association with the county having previously played for them between 2019 and 2021.
Herefordshire have also lost the services of all-rounder Ollie Walker and pace bowler Sam Keeling-Wright to Staffordshire, the county of their birth. Walker, a former Worcestershire Academy player, made his Herefordshire debut in 2022 and Keeling-Wright, who trialled with Northamptonshire last summer, made his first appearance the following year.
Find out more about the National Counties Cricket Association HERE
