Thursday, September 22nd, 2022

HEAD COACH: “OUTSTANDING TEAM PERFORMANCE FROM NUMBERS ONE TO ELEVEN”

Head Coach Alex Gidman described Worcestershire’s victory over LV=Insurance County Championship Division Two leaders Nottinghamshire as “from numbers one to eleven, an outstanding team performance.”

Worcestershire recovered from 99-5 on an opening day to dominate the remainder of the game with bat and ball and triumph by an innings and 79 runs.

It was their fourth Championship win of the summer before they head into the final encounter with Middlesex at New Road beginning on Monday.

Gidman said: “Really pleased with the performance. I thought we were outstanding from ball one. An absolute credit to the players, and they put a lot of hard work in and got their rewards.

“Dominated after the first morning? It is hard enough first innings of a game, and 10.30am in September at New Road is going to be tricky, but I thought we applied ourselves ever so well, tried to do the right things, and we got our rewards later in that day.

“Everyone has contributed. Even the guys who failed with the bat, they were great in the field, caught well, and had loads of energy and enthusiasm.

“Important performance by Gareth Roderick and Brett D’Oliveira? It was an outstanding partnership; they assessed conditions really well.

“They understood it was tricky, and there was going to be a ball in it that might have been challenging, but they had the resilience to get over that, and focused on the next ball, and built a really substantial partnership.

“It was critical to setting up the opportunity for the bowlers to put some pressure on the Nottinghamshire batters.”

Gidman was delighted with the contribution of Roderick, who followed up his 172 not out against Glamorgan with another century and seven catches.

He said: “Gareth had to wait for his opportunity. The beginning of the season didn’t quite go as well as he would have liked, but he has bided his time, gone away and worked extremely hard with the second team and got some scores.

“He has clearly taken his opportunity with the bat first and foremost and done a really good job for us with the gloves. It’s been a balance decision, just the opportunity to play an extra seamer, and it seems to have worked for us in these last couple of games.

“Bowlers worked well as a unit? They all contributed, all bowled a great spell at times, and they kept the scoreboard quiet when they needed to at times. One to 11 an outstanding team performance.”