Tuesday, September 5th, 2023

HEAD COACH REACTION TO VICTORY OVER GLAMORGAN

Head Coach Alan Richardson praised the performance of the Worcestershire seamers as they clinched a third successive win in the LV=Insurance County Championship by defeating Glamorgan with a day to spare at New Road.

Logan van Beek, Joe Leach, Dillon Pennington and Ben Allison shared the 20 wickets between them during the game and Glamorgan were dismissed for 179 in their second innings on the third day to clinch an 80-run success.

It followed on from the wins over Leicestershire at Oakham and Gloucestershire at Cheltenham to cement second spot in the table for Worcestershire with two games remaining.

They are 24 points ahead of Leicestershire, who have a game in hand, and will now have a two week break from action to recharge their batteries and then prepare for the final two games with leaders Durham and Yorkshire.

Richardson, said: “They did themselves very proud. We have gone into these last three games knowing, if we put in three good performances, we give ourselves a chance.

“Certainly we did that throughout the three days of cricket and the boys stuck at their task well throughout.

“It ebbed and flowed, as many four day games do. Very few go in a linear line and the boys rode that really well and today, like they have done for the previous two days, applied themselves really well.

“Happy with the lead going into the last day? I’m never happy! I probably always go on the pessimistic side of stuff and, if you had asked me what I want, I would have liked a 500 run lead.

“But I always felt we were slightly ahead in the game. It would have been really nice to ask Glamorgan to score the highest total in the game to win the game and that wasn’t quite to be.

“But we were still in a position where Glamorgan would have to bat really well, and I thought they applied themselves well at times, but I felt we bowled beautifully today.

“To be able to set the fields we needed for long periods of time for Brett (D’Oliveira) to juggle the bowlers around was really crucial so 260 was nice, and throughout it felt like we were always causing pressure and problems.

“It is important we take 20 wickets and we stacked it up beautifully throughout both innings.”

Richardson added: “Concerned about the dropped catches? No because it means we are creating lots of chances. I’m a realist as well so I know we are not going to catch everything which comes our way.

“But I know the boys practice incredibly hard and, for me, if we weren’t creating chances that would be more of a worry.

“It is important when one goes down that the boys pick themselves up and get ready for the next one and they do that brilliantly well.”

https://twitter.com/WorcsCCC/status/1699086298554744940