Head Coach Alan Richardson praised a “remarkable achievement” by Worcestershire in bouncing back from a challenging first day to defeat Leicestershire by three wickets with a day to spare in the LV=Insurance County Championship encounter at New Road.
Club Captain Brett D’Oliveira smashed the winning boundary off Leicestershire seamer Chris Wright to clinch a second Championship win of the season and secure 19 points.
Worcestershire had been set a difficult 271 target on a pitch of variable bounce, but Adam Hose (84) and Gareth Roderick (59) laid the foundations with a superb partnership of 131.
D’Oliveira then defied some probing bowling and, with support from Matthew Waite and Adam Finch, saw them over the finishing line.
Richardson, said: “What was your emotion when the winning hit was made? A little bit of disbelief to be honest!
“Just thinking back 48 hours to the position we put ourselves in, to then actually win the game, was a remarkable achievement from the boys.
“They played with an amazing amount of character over the last couple of days, showed some real fight and they deserve it. They should be really proud of their efforts.
“They had some pretty honest chats with themselves after the first night and they gave themselves a task to try and put themselves in the game.
“They did that brilliantly well, put in some real hard yards, and showed a lot of skill and character which is something this group should be proud of.
“There are a couple of things that the boys talk about, and we said if we did those, and did them really well, then we would give ourselves a chance, and it didn’t matter how long it would take as we had two days.
“It was quite a difficult wicket to score on at times, but the boys showed incredible skill and incredible patience.”
Richardson added: “Gareth Roderick played beautifully, and the idea was to get the Leicestershire bowlers into their third and fourth spells, try and get the ball old.
“We felt the wicket had lost a bit of pace so it was going to give us a bit of a chance.
“Adam Hose scored at a real good tempo and put pressure back on the Leicestershire bowlers, and Brett finished it off magnificently.
“He started really slowly, and I think they bowled really well at him, and he soaked up that pressure and managed to get us over the line.
Roderick defied the Leicestershire attack for more than five hours.
Richardson said: “Gareth and Adam put together a great partnership and did it in very different ways. Gareth soaked it up and played a lot of forward defensive, and showed a great amount of character and patience to keep blunting the Leicestershire attack.
“Adam took it to them a little but played very sensibly, still played to the conditions, and thoroughly deserved to play a significant knock.
“Gareth came to us having batted three for Gloucestershire for a long time, and we know he can do it, and that is his preferred position, and he loves a challenge.
“That is one of his huge characteristics and strengths, so it was great for him. It is something that is probably made for him to show that determination.”
