Dillon Pennington praised a fine all-round display by Worcestershire as he reached the 40-wicket mark in a season of LV=Insurance County Championship cricket for the first time on day two against Nottinghamshire at New Road.
The pace bowler picked up four wickets and continued his impressive form in Nottinghamshire’s first innings as they were bowled out for 128 in reply to Worcestershire’s 390 after they had resumed on 297-7.
Ed Barnard’s burst of 4-1 in 13 balls was also crucial, and then Ben Gibbon and Matthew Waite removed the top half of the Nottinghamshire batting when they followed on.
Josh Tongue claimed the crucial wicket of Haseeb Hameed (58) in a testing spell just before the close as Nottinghamshire closed on 129-6.
Pennington said: “I didn’t quite expect it to go how it went. I didn’t expect us to get the runs that we did this morning, but Josh Tongue batted unbelievably (for 45 not out), and Gareth (Roderick) was outstanding again.
“We did really well as a nine, 10 and 11. We broke it down into chunks and managed to put a score on the board to allow us to put pressure on to them when it came to bowling.
“To take the wickets and keep coming back as bowlers, I think we did a really good job. The pitch, when you bowl on a good length, you get your rewards. There is quite a bit of nip in it.
“We stuck to what we’ve tried to do all year, and we did it really well for long periods of time.
“I felt good, and Ed (Barnard) did exceptionally well to take the wickets in the middle, and he got the rewards he deserved today.”
Pennington has bowled consistently this summer and is pleased to achieve the 40-wicket milestone.
He said: “It was my aim at the start of the season that, if I can get to 40 wickets, I’ll be really happy.
“It is quite a relief and quite a proud moment. I’ve got there, and hopefully, I can get a few more tomorrow and in the last game.
“It is pleasing to do well and perform well for the lads.
“I’m really happy with how it is coming out, apart from this evening when it didn’t quite go to plan. But I’m keeping it simple, working really well with Alan Richardson, and it’s coming out okay.
“The rhythm feels good. It felt nice down at Sussex, and it’s carried into this game, and hopefully, it can carry on until the last.”
Pennington added: “Hopefully, we can take those last four wickets tomorrow.
“We played really well the last two games to get into the position we did but unfortunately the weather played its part.
“Those two games gave us confidence going into this and we have played really well.
“The balls we’ve had in this game have been unbelievable. We haven’t had a box of balls like that all season, and they’ve kept in great shape. It is allowing us to be able to swing it all innings.”
Nottinghamshire Head Coach Peter Moores, the former Worcestershire wicket-keeper, admitted: “The assessment of the two days is they bowled better than we did and made it far more challenging for our batters.
“Credit to them. They have played good, aggressive cricket in the style we have played a lot ourselves this year.”
“We have played good cricket all the way through this year, but Worcestershire have outplayed us over the two days.”
