It is a given that cricketers on the cusp of national honours should make short work of domestic cricket but Worker's mentality isn't always guaranteed in the aspiring pool of talent.
For instance, yesterday the Heinrich Malan-coached CD won the toss and chose to bat but found the Basin Reserve wicket betrayed the tradition of bounce and carry.
"It was pretty weird - slow, two-paced and hard to bat on," Worker said, unsuspectingly drawing parallels with the McLean Park, Napier, wicket in the opening round last Sunday that served up a six-wicket defeat to the defending trophy champions at the hands of the Canterbury Kings.
"But once you got yourselves in, there were certainly runs to be had," said the Black Cap, after CD posted 241 all out but, lamentably, 34 balls shy of the allotted 50 overs.
Not surprisingly, Young and his Stags weren't too chuffed to post a par score that they suspected was worth at least 300 runs.
It was good to see ex-Black Cap Jesse Ryder make his first significant contribution (58 runs from 48 balls) in the white-ball format after sliding to first drop following a summer of despair with strains and pains.
"He played in the Jesse fashion and struck the ball really well ... ," Worker said of the 31-year-old, who will head back to England after missing almost the entire T20 campaign.
However, the jury's out on the rest of the predominantly young CD batsmen's sense of application after the shortcomings in adaptability at McLean Park.
Perhaps the knock from Worker came as a sense of reassurance on defending the total but with his departure after a whirlwind visit others will have to put their hands up.
"It was nice to do well because it would have been frustrating if I scored a hundy and we wouldn't have won," he said.
Nevertheless, a win is a win and that alone can perform wonders for the constitution of any team caught up in the fickle twilight zone of success and mediocrity.
Yesterday, the writing was on the wall quite early for the Firebirds when they were left reeling at 5-59 in just 17 overs and a lot to ponder on at the drinks break.
No 7 Luke Woodcock's heroics with 102 from 103 balls put some respectability in the hosts' run chase but they seem to be suffering from the CD top-order allergy as they eventually felt the noose tighten in meeting the demand for runs and balls to spare with 209 all out in 48 overs.
"They were 5 to 6 down early and we got them on the back foot," said Worker, selflessly attributing the victory to Seth Rance (4-32 from nine overs, including two maidens) and Bevan Small (3-33 from eight overs, including a maiden), although he was the most frugal at 1-28 from nine offspin overs.
He lauded Woodcock, who scored his maiden List A ton, as well as Anurag Verma (27 runs) for eking out runs against the odds on a trying surface that yielded three top-order ducks in Wellington's innings.
Needless to say, Worker is thoroughly enjoying hanging out with the Caps and soaking up the skills, but should the opportunity arise, he'd love nothing more than to represent his country again.
