Adam Finch was delighted to be on the other end of another tight finish at Cheltenham as Worcestershire triumphed with 8.5 overs to spare in the LV=Insurance County Championship match against Gloucestershire.
Finch was playing only his fourth Championship match four years ago when he was the last wicket to fall as Gloucestershire triumphed by just 13 runs on the same ground.
The Gloucestershire players wheeled away in mass celebrations but this time it was the Worcestershire players who were able to saviour the joy of success with Finch playing a big part with the ball and bat.
He picked up seven more wickets in the game, including four in the second innings today, and also made 33 not out, equalling his career best score.
He said: “One of my first games was here and the exact kind of reverse to today in terms of the result.
“We were batting for the draw but also in the end came quite close to the win and I got to within the last couple of overs after batting with Leachy (Joe Leach) before I got out.
“For me to be on the other end of a similar scenario is a real positive.
“I had spoke to Rodders (Gareth Roderick) about it because he was on the other side at the time.
“He said how nice it would be to be on the flip side of that result.”.
Worcestershire bowled with great discipline in both innings to back up an impressive performance by the batters in circumstances entirely different to last week’s win over Leicestershire in barely two days at Oakham.
Finch said: “It was a really great victory, to work so hard for four days and win in the last hour, the last few overs, was really special.
“We spoke about what had happened at Oakham at the start of day one, where things happened pretty quickly, and lads who had played at Cheltenham before said that tends not to be the case there.
“It can be more attritional, a bit harder to get your rewards, to get your wickets, and we spoke about doing exactly what we did, winning during the last hour of the final day so really proud.
“It was just about trying to be resilient and just back your best plan and Leachy spoke about it quite well after our first bowling innings.
“He said how it might be difficult in patches and we might not get rewards in those periods but if we could get a quick ‘bang, bang’ in terms of wickets here and there, then momentum quickly changes.
“It happened today and was just a really great game to be a part of and one the lads will take confidence from, I’m sure.
“Dolly (Brett D’Oliveira) just said in the changing room that everyone contributed, and to go around and mention everyone from the game would be pretty impossible.
“In games like this, and places like this, just a little contribution, a brilliant catch, a bit of energy in the field is a massive contribution because the lads feed off it so much.
“One of those performances that will go down as a real team performance and a great win for us.”
Finch praised the spectacular hitting of Matthew Waite whose second innings half century was the quickest in terms of balls faced – 22 – by a Worcestershire player.
He said: “It was special. He walked out with real purpose and he hit his first ball straight out of the middle of the bat and I thought ‘we could be on here’ and he just started taking people down.
“I knew he’d want to line up anything that was short at him.
“I remember playing against him at Scarborough in the 50 over competition last year before he joined us and anything short he just belted.
“I knew that thing could occur and it was brilliant to see him express himself like that and it really came off for him.”
