Worcestershire return to Specsavers County Championship action at the end of next week – and Joe Clarke and Ed Barnard are their leading run-scorer and wicket-taker respectively at the half-way stage in the 2018 competition.

The England Lions duo have again showed their quality in the top flight after both made their debut at that level when breaking into the senior side at Blackfinch New Road three years ago.

Clarke has amassed 600 Championship runs at an average of 50.00 with the aid of three centuries going into the clash with Somerset at Blackfinch New Road starting on Sunday, July 22.

He is also the fourth highest run-scorer in the country in Division One with only the Surrey duo of Rory Burns (722) and Ollie Pope (654) and Hampshire’s James Vince (626) ahead of him.

Daryl Mitchell (545) and Tom Fell (349) are the other main run-getters for the County so far this season.

Barnard has taken 27 wickets and has stepped up to the challenge of being one of the more senior bowlers after long term injuries were suffered by skipper Joe Leach and Josh Tongue.

He has taken 27 wickets at 20.96 including a career best 6-37 against Somerset at the Cooper Associates County Ground in addition to weighing in with 274 runs in the lower order.

It led to his first Lions call-up for the recent Tri-Series against West Indies A and India A.

Barnard is in the top 10 of Division One wicket-takers this season – just five behind joint leaders Graham Onions (Lancashire) and Simon Harmer (Essex) on 32.

BATTING

Clarke Matches 7, Inns 13, Not Out 1, Runs 600, Highest 177*, Average 50.00

Guptill 2, 4, 0, 170, 111, 42.50

Mitchell 7, 13, 0, 545, 163, 41.92

Head 5, 9, 1, 291, 62, 36.37

Whiteley 2, 4, 0, 141, 76, 35.25

Barnard 6, 11, 1, 274, 66, 27.40

Fell 7, 13, 0, 349, 88, 26.84

Cox 7, 13, 1, 242, 65, 20.16

Morris 4, 7, 5, 31, 9*, 15.50

Tongue 5, 9, 2, 99, 34, 14.14

D’Oliveira 7, 13, 0, 152, 37, 11.69

Twohig 3, 5, 0, 55, 35, 11.00

Pennington 1, 2, 0, 16, 16, 8.00

Leach 5, 9, 0, 66, 18, 7.33

Magoffin 5, 8, 3, 21, 10, 4.20

Rhodes 3, 6, 0, 22, 12, 3.66

Brown 1, 1, 1, 2, 2*, —- —

BOWLING

Guptill Inns 2, Overs 4.0, Maidens 1, Runs 17, Wickets 1, Best 1-17, Average 17.00

Barnard 10, 179.2, 42, 566, 27, 6-37, 20.96 Leach 9, 157.5, 28, 503, 23, 4-42, 22.08

Tongue 9, 153.1, 25, 505, 21, 5-53, 24.04

Mitchell 7, 41.0, 7, 123, 4, 2-35, 30.75

Whiteley 3, 26.2, 4, 69, 2, 1-2, 34.50

Magoffin 10, 166.0, 40, 503, 13, 3-70, 39.15

Morris 7, 108.4, 15, 372, 9, 3-20, 41.33

D’Oliveira 4, 43.0, 3, 175, 4, 2-44, 43.,75

Brown 2, 20.0, 3, 67, 1, 1-53, 67.00

Pennington 2, 30.0, 6, 138, 2, 2-51, 69.00

Twohig 5, 80.0, 7, 279, 4, 1-33, 69.75

Head 6, 41.0, 6, 152, 1, 1-30, 152.00