Adam Hose was delighted to clock up his first half-century for Worcestershire and help them recover from a challenging start on the opening day of the LV=Insurance County Championship encounter with Sussex at New Road.
Hose and Gareth Roderick put on 92 for the sixth wicket after a fine opening spell by England pace bowler Ollie Robinson.
With Matthew Waite and Joe Leach then capitalising on that platform with a century stand, Worcestershire were able to total 264 after being 44-5 at one stage.
Hose said: “It was a pretty challenging first few hours. I thought they bowled really well. There was a fair bit in it for the seamers.
“To be able to soak up a bit of pressure with Rodders (Gareth Roderick) and build a partnership, and then come on the attack for a little period, was nice to do.
“From a personal point of view, it is always nice to get a few runs as well.
“Basically, the reason I moved (from Warwickshire) was because I wanted to try and play more cricket all summer round.
“I knew that opportunity was potentially going to be a little bit more open here as opposed to Warwickshire.
“To help the team out, and contribute today, was really pleasing.”
Hose explained how he and Roderick, who made an accomplished 39, took small steps in their partnership.
He said: “For the whole of that partnership, we were constantly working in blocks of five, and that’s all we had to think about really, just sort of taking each ball as it comes.
“It’s very easy to look too far ahead in those situations, but I think it just goes to show when a couple of guys can soak up a bit of pressure, and then counterattack when the right moment is, that you can really build good partnerships.
“In the end, I think we got to a half-decent total.
“We spoke at lunch about scrapping to 200, so to get well over that was really pleasing as a unit.
“The Derbyshire game also saw how the lower order can wag and I know how frustrating it is from a fielder’s point of view when the opposition’s tail wags.”
Hose praised the bowling of England pace bowler Ollie Robinson who picked up seven wickets.
He said: “It kind of felt a different game when Ollie Robinson was bowling. We spoke about not being just static when facing him.
“We wanted to be fairly proactive in terms of maybe not looking to be quite as aggressive but could still be positive in our running and dropping balls at our feet, and just trying to put him off his length as much as we could.
“But, credit to him, he is a high-class international bowler, and he showed it. There was a bit off the seam, and the bounce was quite obvious at times.
“But personally, I’d rather play on wickets like this where 250-300 is a good score, and there is a bit of life in the pitch, and those nicks carry as opposed to those one innings games.
“I guess everyone is different, but this sets it up nicely, and hopefully, the weather can stay off for an exciting session tomorrow.”
Hose was full of admiration for the way Waite and Leach counterattacked during their century partnership for the eighth wicket.
He said: “They played brilliantly, to be honest. Matthew, even when I was batting with him, was playing really positively, and Joe just came in and backed that up as well.
“Credit to those two guys. Matthew has played beautifully with the bat all season so far, and we know Joe can do stuff like that today.”
Sussex reached 63-1 by the close, and Hose says Worcestershire will be looking to put their batters under pressure when play resumes on Friday.
He said: “We generally bowled pretty well for that 20 odd overs. The life definitely came out of the pitch a little bit, and we weren’t beating the bat as much as they probably were in that first innings. That is just the general progression of the day.
“Moving into tomorrow, it’s going to be a case of applying pressure with dot balls and hopefully, the wickets will come that way.”
