Worcestershire bowler Ben Allison expressed his delight at getting the ball back in his hands for the Pears after an intriguing opening day of Rothesay County Championship action against Middlesex.
Having missed the first block of matches through injury, the seamer has worked his way back to fitness with the second eleven over recent weeks, before being named in Worcestershire’s starting XI for an eagerly awaited mid-table Division Two clash on Friday morning.
Visitors Middlesex made good progress in the early parts of the opening day, but the home side’s bowling attack responded well, ending the day with eight wickets, including the prize scalp of the visiting skipper Leus du Plooy.
“Its been a while and frustrating to miss out on the first block of Champo games, but it was great to be back out there on a really good day.
“It seems like a bit of New Road pitch in a way, where it can be a bit lively, but if you bide your time and persevere that tends to pay off.
“If you see how Holden applied himself for them, even though his strike rate would have been pretty low, he got through it and occupied the crease to get some runs later on.
“So that was a clear sign that if you hang around for long enough you can get rewards, but also with the ball, if you hammer away on a good area you’ll eventually get some poles.”
It was a superb combined effort from the Worcestershire seam attack, who were five strong after welcoming Allison back and Beyers Swanepoel taking the new ball.
Matthew Waite was unable to bowl as he recovers from a minor side injury, meaning Tom Taylor, Adam Finch and Ethan Brookes picked up the slack.
An inspired spell from Finch saw him return figures of 4-70, with two wickets in two balls midway through the afternoon and the key wicket of du Plooy late on.
Whilst helping himself to three wickets, Allison was full of praise for the efforts of his teammates.
“I feel like I maybe offered a few too many runs, but that is just me. Obviously I am just very happy to pick up some wickets.
“I thought Beyers bowled really well without getting a wicket, and he will probably bowl a lot worse and end up getting quite a few, but that is just the way it works.
“Overall we worked really well as a unit, Finchy bowled absolutely beautifully and there was a feel good vibe in the field throughout the unit.
“On the balance of things, if you had of offered us eight down despite winning the toss we would have probably looked at you a certain way, but considering it doesn’t seem to be offering too many demons I think we will take that.
“We will come back nice and early, hopefully grab those two wickets without conceding too many runs and see what happens.”
