The nerves were starting to rattle as the balls mounted up.
The final count? 62 off 38 balls as Worker found his feet and showed what he can do.
Another 28 off 26 balls followed a few days later before Worker made an unbeaten 20 in a 67-run stand with century-maker Martin Guptill to help set up an eight-wicket win at Potchefstroom, followed by 21 in 24 balls at Durban, both at No 4, after Ross Taylor had left the tour due to injury.
Not startling, but enough to suggest he's finding his feet at the top level.
"The biggest positive is [discovering] that it's not too tough. It gave me a lot of confidence that now I've been there."
Worker hasn't set any goals for the Sri Lankan tour - after all, the squad has been named for the first three games only, and it may be he misses out on playing the opener in Christchurch today, with rival Henry Nicholls tipped to make his debut on his home ground.
"It's tough to set goals but my first is to train as well as I can and make the playing XI. Once there, there's little targets I'd want to achieve in every game."
Worker's List A numbers are good - six centuries and 13 fifties in 77 games at 37.79. In 65 T20 innings, his strike rate is 122 and there have been 10 fifties.
His first-class numbers aren't as impressive; 26.76 with four centuries in 69 matches since his debut in the 2007-08 season.
Still, Worker's not given up on having a crack at a test spot, especially now one position is soon to be vacant with the impending retirement of national skipper Brendon McCullum.
"That's certainly a goal of mine, no doubt about that.
"The fact is my first-class statistics early in my career haven't been great.
"I've been working really hard in winter to change that. I have to put in good domestic performances in the Plunket Shield."
Worker has useful left arm spin as a second string but he knows the score - perform and make sure he keeps his name in the selectors' thoughts.
