Worcestershire Head Coach Alan Richardson gave an honest assessment of his side’s performance, as they failed to capitalise on a dominant position on the fourth day of the Division One clash against Warwickshire at Edgbaston.
After laying the foundations, Worcestershire took to the field in buoyant mood, having set Warwickshire an unlikely 393 to win heading into the final day.
With eight wickets required, the visitors could only manage to take three further scalps, with Richardson making his frustration known at the close of play after a sobering five-wicket defeat.
“It is incredibly frustrating. We haven’t had really much of a chance to catch up yet, but it is a very, very quiet changing room, with some very disappointed people in there. And so we should be.
“Warwickshire played very well, without shadow of a doubt. They stuck to their task really well. I think ultimately, it’s not just about today, you know, it goes further than that.
“I think if we were to look at it, we weren’t clinical enough in the third and fourth innings of this game.
“A lot of credit should go to Warwickshire. We’ll have a long, hard look at all of ourselves about what we could have done differently and how we could have put that game out of reach, but we didn’t, we gave them a sniff.”
After a middle-order collapse that saw the visitors fall to 121-4, it was Ethan Brookes that led the repost with a dogged 87, in combination with a stubborn knock from Adam Finch, to garner an overall lead of 393.
With a score touching 400, it looked as though it was only a matter of time before the Pears wrapped up victory, until a stunning comeback on a flattening wicket saw the home side turn things around to achieve a comfortable five-wicket win.
On reflection, Richardson said his side will feel aggrieved not to have walked away victors at Edgbaston.
“I’d like to think that with the lead that we had, we should have got a few more runs ahead. Ultimately it took a really good partnership from Adam and Ethan again, yesterday.
“At one stage we were 299, ahead, when Adam went out. Ultimately, we have to look at that and be clinical enough in the third innings of the game, and today we didn’t execute our skills well enough, which is disappointing for us.”
Despite the defeat, which leaves Worcestershire in peril at the wrong end of Division One of the Rothesay County Championship table, the standout individual performance of Ethan Brookes, didn’t go unnoticed by the man at the helm.
“The last block of T20 games he really played magnificently well in that, and helped us win a couple of games in that and to get 230 runs in the game, for him to be on the losing side is really tough.
“You know, all the guys will be hurting – support staff and players, and for someone to have put in that kind of performance and then finish on the losing side is never great.
“I do think for parts, our performance was really good, and we should take great heart from that. But ultimately, you know, like I talk about, the results are what dictate it.
“I will always look at the performance first and foremost, and the reaction we’ve had since Surrey has been really good, but ultimately, the crucial parts of the game over the last couple of days is where we haven’t been clinical enough.”
