Assistant Coach Alan Richardson believes Worcestershire deserved greater reward for their efforts with the ball during the bulk of day one of the LV=Insurance County Championship encounter with Sussex at New Road.
Club Captain Joe Leach led the way with 4-67 from 21 overs in his best return of the summer and he and the remainder of the attack consistently beat the bat on a pitch offering some lateral movement and swing.
But a career best 81 not out from Jack Carson – caught off a no ball when on two – enabled Sussex to recover from 97-6 to 254-9.
Richardson, who is also Bowling Coach, said: “It’s frustrating because I thought we put in a really good shift for the large part of the day.
“I think we deserved more than having the nine wickets.
“Whilst we showed some really good signs, I think it was quite frustrating for the boys towards the end of the day.
“It was a very good innings by Jack Carson. We kept our disciplines very well and created chances throughout the day.
“They didn’t always go to hand, and we didn’t always get the decisions that we wanted.
“When they were 97-6, we were looking to finish the job in terms of getting those first 10 wickets and that obviously hasn’t quite happened.
“But I think, in general, we’ve got to be generally happy with the work we’ve done, but the outcome is probably not quite where we wanted it to be.”
Richardson was delighted for Leach and is hoping he can complete a five-for when play resumes on Tuesday morning.
He said: “I don’t think Joe has bowled particularly badly all season if I’m honest. I think the wickets we have played on have been really hard work.
“Today he put in some really hard yards for us, bowled some good spells and created those opportunities.
“It would have been nice for him to finish with a five-for and to bowl them out but hopefully that will happen tomorrow morning.”
As regards the wicket, Richardson said: “The pitch looks decent. We’ve played a couple of games here this year where the wickets have been slower and lower and hard work.
“Here, if feels if you put the ball in the right place, you may get some rewards.
“There is certainly a bit of lateral movement. The boys said it has swung a little bit for most of the day as well. It looks like a good cricket wicket.”
