Worcestershire Head Coach Alan Richardson admitted Ben Gibbon and Adam Finch’s superb efforts with the bat were crucial in wrestling back the momentum from Yorkshire in the drawn LV=Insurance County Championship encounter at New Road.
The duo joined forces in Worcestershire’s first innings at 179-9 in reply to Yorkshire’s 407 and batted for nearly 36 overs adding 63 and then added a further 31 when opening the batting in the second innings.
It provided the platform for regular openers Jake Libby and Gareth Roderick to feature in an unbroken century stand which lifted Worcestershire to 142-2 when the two teams shook hands at 5pm.
Richardson said: “Yorkshire played some really good cricket the first two days and put us under a lot of pressure so it was very difficult then for us to try and put that complete performance together.
“But what we did show was a lot of spirit and a lot of heart and fight to make sure we came out of the game with a good draw.
“When Adam and Ben got together, the game was very much going towards Yorkshire. They got the momentum.
“The fact those guys wrestled it back and put together a fantastic 10th wicket partnership, to strangle it away from them to give us a chance of a draw, was a fantastic effort.
“We take pride in the fact we can bat all the way down and all the bowlers work incredibly hard on their contributions with the bat.
“That was absolutely vital in the outcome of this game.”
Libby ended unbeaten on 61 and Roderick completed 6,000 first class runs during his 34 not out.
Richardson said: “Gareth is in very good form. He has shown how versatile he is in terms of he has batted anywhere between one and seven in his short time at the club.
“He has put his hand up about opening the batting for us and has done really well and given us some good starts and shown how solid a player he is and what a great competitor he is.
“That is something he values massively and is one of his huge strengths. He loves the challenge and so he has been fantastic. He’s got 6,000 runs and there will be plenty more to come.”
More than 130 overs were lost to the weather over the four days.
Richardson said: “Was the weather the winner with so much time lost? I think so and Yorkshire will probably think that way because they had the upper hand for quite a bit of that game.
“Disappointing that we didn’t get a full four days in to see how the game would have been unfolded.”
