Worcestershire opener Jake Libby admitted he tried to put pressure back onto the Leicestershire bowlers with his aggressive approach on day two of the LV=Insurance County Championship match at Oakham School.
Libby top-scored with 67 in Worcestershire’s second innings – the only half century to date in the game – and set the tone with a flurry of early boundaries on a pitch which was still seamer-friendly.
It enabled Worcestershire to set a 238 target and by the close they had reduced the home side to 114-7 and need three more wickets to complete a third Championship win of the season.
Libby said: “From my point of view I tried to be as positive as I could to put pressure on the bowlers.
“Obviously there is an element of luck to it but, on that wicket, you had to have that. There was a lot going on out there. It worked for me today, on another day it wouldn’t.
“It helped to be coming into this game confident with runs under my belt. The game is on my side a bit at the minute and I’ve played a few shots and it came off.
“As a group I feel we’ve done okay with the bat in this game with the bat. We feel we have got enough runs in the game and given ourselves runs to defend on what has been a tough wicket.
“Everyone scrapped to get a score that we felt was enough and we bowled tremendously well, both in the first innings and the second, and hopefully we can come back and finish the job in the morning.”
Libby was also pleased with the performance of the Worcestershire attack which was backed up by some excellent catching.
He said: “Dillon and Tonguey in particular tonight were really good, putting balls in the right area consistently, and on that kind of pitch you are going to get chances.
“The slips did their job really well. With the number of chances being created you were always in the game.
“Rehan Ahmed is playing really well and Chris Wright has scored some runs this season, so there is still work to be done.
“Rehan looks key for them so obviously we’ll be gunning to get him as soon as we can.
“We’ve got a couple of massive games in this period and, if we can come out on top, it puts us in a good position for September.”
https://twitter.com/WorcsCCC/status/1682284270969319424
