THE fairytale continues for Reigate Priory's Richie Oliver after he was named in Worcestershire's LV= County Championship side for their game against Glamorgan starting tomorrow [Sunday].
The batsman started the season playing and coaching at Reigate Priory while juggling captaining minor county side Shropshire. However, Oliver was then asked by his former Shropshire coach to fill in for the Worcestershire seconds, and a couple of centuries later found himself turning out for the Rapids in the NatWest T20 Blast.
After a number of match-winning performance, he 24-year-old was handed his first professional cricket contract two weeks ago, and at the time told the Surrey Mirror of his hopes of playing the four-day game for Worcestershire.
"I want to keep my place in the T20 and then hopefully I'll get my chance in the one-day game when it comes around," Oliver said on June 11. "And if I continue to get the runs then it would be nice to make my County Championship debut."
The chiefs at Worcestershire could hardly miss Oliver's 292 not out for the second team against Warwickshire Seconds this week, leading to his first team call up.
"Anyone who makes a score like that in the second team, just about 300, deserves to get a chance in the first team, and that's what he is going to get," Worcestershire director of cricket Steve Rhodes said.
"We are obviously looking forward to him hopefully carrying on that form but we've been very impressed with his run-scoring ability in league cricket, second team cricket and hopefully now in first team cricket.
"He is learning all the time about red ball cricket. He has played a handful of second team matches with the red ball but he has already got a hundred and now a double hundred.
"Hopefully he can not change anything and hopefully the occasion doesn't get the better of him but I don't think it will because he has already shown in T20 cricket that he can handle the crowds and the sort of pressure that comes with playing for the first team."
