daryl mitchell says worcestershire bowlers will be looking to making early inroads tomorrow after a challenging day for batsmen in the specsavers county championship match with glamorgan at New Road.
there was enough encouragement throughout the day for the seam bowlers as 12 wickets fell for just 249 runs from 94 overs.
worcestershire were bowled out for 205 with mitchell digging in for a patient 36 off 103 balls spanning 33 overs before glamorgan were reduced to 44-2 by the close.
mitchell who is making his 200th first class appearance for the county, said: “it was hard work. the uncontested toss was pretty much a no brainer to stick us in.
“with the rain we had yesterday, there was still plenty of moisture in the wicket and, as we expected, it nipped around for most of the day including the end which was good for us.
“hopefully tomorrow, particularly with a 10.30 start, it will be moving around for the first hour tomorrow and we can make some inroads.
“i thought we bowled exceptionally well this evening and were a little bit unlucky to only pick up two wickets.
“forty-four runs off 24 overs, you can’t really ask for much more than that from the bowlers and there were a couple of close lbw shouts and quite a bit of playing and missing as well as getting the two wickets.
“hopefully the tide will turn tomorrow, the luck will change, and if we get the ball in the right areas as we did tomorrow, with a bit more moisture from the dew, hopefully we can have a good first hour and put them under a lot of pressure.”
riki wessels, with a quickfire 45, and ed barnard (29 not out) were the other main contributors with the bat for the county.
mitchell said: “we did alright to get to 200. we would have liked 250 plus but it was one of those ‘getting inserted’ situations where it could have gone horribly wrong so we did okay to scrap away to lunch and then post a competitive if not a brilliant total.
“it was tough and credit to the glamorgan bowlers and particularly michael hogan. he has been around a long time and does what he does very well. he hits good areas and nips it around both ways and made it very tough.
“scoring was difficult all day, 240-250 runs in a full day which is quite unusual in this day and age.
“it was all about applying ourselves and trying to dig in as best as we could.
“it has been a pretty ordinary year for myself, not scoring as many runs as i would have liked, but hopefully i did a job for the team today.
“i managed to spend a bit of time in the middle, which is obviously important, and set a little bit of a foundation for us.”
mitchell was seen offering words of wisdom to jack haynes who showed his willingness to graft in making a patient 17
he said: “you try and communicate with all of your partners when you are out there and this was my 200th game for worcestershire and that was jack’s second so he has got a bit to learn!
“he has started in pretty positive fashion. he battled hard today and is going to be a fine player and if i can help him along at all during our time together, i will certainly try and do that.
“i was trying to keep his confidence up, and tell him how good he is looking, how well he is playing, how well he is moving his feet.
“i thought his footwork was exceptional from ball one which was good to see and then just discussing what the bowler is going to do and how we are going to try and combat it and little tactical bits here and there.
“he can help me as well, anything he sees in my technique and stuff, and keeping communicating and giving each other information.”
