Lategan learning on the job - Richardson

Worcestershire head coach Alan Richardson says up-and-coming opening batter Daniel Lategan is "learning on the job" and can only get better after a promising start to his first-class career.

The 19-year-old South-Africa born left-hander is the Pears' leading run-scorer after the first block of six matches in the second division of the County Championship with 431 runs at an average of 39.

In 11 innings, he has notched three half-centuries plus innings of 49, 48 and two scores in the 30s.

He scored 53 and 48 in Worcestershire's draw against Lancashire, facing bowlers including England great Jimmy Anderson.

Having seen off Anderson and with the Pears aiming to bat the game out for a draw, Lategan was out caught behind off Paul Coughlin two runs short of his second half-century of the match having spent 40 overs and nearly three hours at the crease.

"He's very frustrated that he got out in the way that he did," Richardson said.

"I think he's done really well again, and he's gaining experience the whole time and developing his skill sets.

"In his very brief career, he's faced some fine bowlers and obviously no more so than Jimmy, who's a world-class operator still, so for him to get through that and play as well as he did it's something that he should really take some heart from and hopefully it'll continue evolving in his journey."

Lategan is a product of Worcestershire's academy pathway having played his formative cricket in South Africa.

After finishing with the development programme at New Road, he mixed casual work at the club's bar with some trial games for the second XI and eventually earned a three-year contract in July 2025,, external off the back of some strong performances.

Lategan, on the Worcestershire books as an overseas player, qualifies to play for England in 2028.

After an impressive debut campaign in Worcestershire's One-Day Cup winning run in 2025 where he averaged 54.50 from six innings, he played the last four Championship games of last season, scoring 145 runs from six innings.

In his first knock of this season, he hit his top score of 89 against a Derbyshire attack including Pakistan star Mohammad Abbas before adding 49 in the second innings.

"I think he's learning on the job," Richardson told BBC Hereford and Worcester.

"He's barely played any multi-day cricket coming into his first-class career. He played a lot of one-day cricket in South Africa and in academy cricket and in school cricket.

"So for him to learn how to go up and down the gears, and he's faced some really good bowlers in the last couple of weeks."

Richardson said he is sure a maiden century "is just around the corner" as Lategan continues to "evolve".

With Worcestershire set to go with overseas recruits Sikandar Raza and leg-spinner Usama Mir for their T20 Blast campaign, Lategan is likely to have to be patient for his chance in the Rapids side.

"It'd be lovely for him to play some T20 cricket," Richardson said. "I think he did really well in the 50-over competition for us so he'll have to wait and see.

"But for now it'll be Usama and Sikandar who start for us and they'll be a huge part of our T20 campaign."

Worcestershire begin their T20 Blast campaign away to Leicestershire on Friday [18:30 BST].