Seamer Ben Allison praised the Worcestershire bowling unit for putting his side in a strong position in the match, before a final hour blitz of wickets saw the hosts pegged back to 69-4 at stumps on Day Two of the Rothesay County Championship contest against Surrey.
Producing his best performance for the Pears to date, Allison returned figures of 5-44 during the visitors first-innings, including a spell that saw him take two wickets in as many overs, to turn the screw at a crucial time in the match.
In spite of his excellent personal display, he was quick to recognise his pace bowling colleagues for the collective work that saw them into a positive position.
“I think with New Road as well we know it, and what we’re going to get, there’s still rewards there for when you get in the right areas. Tommy this year and Duffy, they’ve been exceptional.
“We’ve been really persistent on that line and length and we have reaped the rewards.
“Fortunately for me today it went my way.”
After Allison dislodged Ryan Patel for 67 during the early exchanges, it was the dismissal of Surrey Captain, Rory Burns, for 34, that opened the door for the home side as they subsequently went on to take five wickets for 37 runs across the afternoon.
Despite restricting the current Division One champions to just a 77-run lead, a frantic evening session saw all of the Worcestershire top-four dismissed, providing Allison’s side with a major setback.
The bowler is certain however, that the depth in his side’s batting and resilience amongst the group can throw them a lifeline in the match.
“I know it wasn’t the ideal end to the day, but we’re happy as a team that we fought back, and we will be putting in a shift tomorrow.
“It isn’t a lack of confidence I don’t think, as I alluded to, it is doing stuff out in the middle and sometimes you are going to get a good ball that has your name on it.
“Even if it doesn’t go the way of the batters, we pride ourselves on batting from the top two down to eleven, so tomorrow hopefully we can come back and create a lead and out some pressure on these guys.”
Allison, ended the day out in the middle, navigating a challenging three-over period as nightwatchman against a relentless Surrey bowling attack who never gave an inch.
Batting through to the close with Adam Hose, the pace bowler said the key is taking each ball as it comes, with conditions and the quality of the opposition attack making life very hard for the home side.
“Not to go into too much detail, but Richo did sort of say it didn’t really seem like we actually showed up that session.
“Every single ball you’re facing, it’s all about switching on for the next ball – almost what has been is now gone. You can only look ahead.
“It’s an attitude thing, that ball is still hard, it will do something off the pitch inevitably, but if you stay in there for five, ten, fifteen overs that ball will eventually get softer and become easier to bat on.
“We have to believe no matter what the score is, if we can get a lead of 150 that would be great and then there will be real pressure on them – it’s a funny game cricket and you never know what may happen.
