Worcestershire Bowling Coach-Assistant Coach, Alan Richardson, gave his reaction after another day dominated by the ball in the Specsavers County Championship match with Lancashire at Emirates Old Trafford.
Twenty nine wickets have gone down in just two days – including 14 on the second day – with only Wayne Parnell (Worcestershire) and Liam Livingstone (Lancashire) scoring half centuries.
Richardson told BBC Hereford-Worcester’s Frank Watson: “The game seems to be moving forwards quite quickly. Just looking at the surface, there’s obviously been some very fine bowling on it.
“You look at both attacks and there’s some high quality, especially with Jimmy Anderson playing. If you land it on the seam, it is doing a little bit – enough. Listening to the lads, there’s some slight variable bounce as well.
“What you’re seeing is when batters get in, they can bat for periods of time and score quickly. But for new batters, it’s quite difficult for those first 20 or 30 balls.”
As regards the third day, Richardson said: “We always to have to believe. If we can chip away a little bit more with the bat tomorrow and give ourselves something, it would be nice.
“Then, with the new ball, you never know. We were obviously 30 odd for seven in the first innings, so you can always dream.
“It’s crucial that we bat for a little bit of time to give ourselves enough runs, even though it’s a slim chance, to set the fields we want for a period of time and have a go with the new ball. You never know.”