Worcestershire Head Coach Alan Richardson gave an open and frank assessment after his side were resigned to a heavy defeat inside three days in their return to Rothesay County Championship action.
A month on from their draw to Warwickshire at Visit Worcestershire New Road, the hosts failed to find a foothold in the match, as the current holders of Division One displayed a ruthless edge, sending the Pears to a nine-wicket defeat in the early stage of the afternoon session on the third day.
Aware of the challenge that lay ahead of his side, Richardson said he was particularly disappointed in his side’s application during phases of the match, despite their positive intentions.
“I think we knew that it was going to be a real challenge. Surrey have been a very good side for a long period of time now, and you look down their lineup, you know that it’s going to take a real good effort and a real good performance to be able to challenge them, but one that we thought that we could do, and I think we left ourselves quite a bit short in terms of how we went about our work in the first innings.
“Supporters will watch it, and people who’ve watched it will obviously point at the skill sets that probably weren’t quite there, but I think for me, it is just more in around the attitude and the spirit that I think has been a real hallmark of how we’ve played over a number of years now, and what we’ve displayed certainly over the last couple of years.
“I think there was certainly moments in that game where we were nowhere near that. If you do that against a side like Surrey, they’re going to come hard at you and make you pay.”
After Ben Allison had dragged his side back into the game with Worcestershire-best figures of 5-44 in Surrey’s first innings, the hosts only trailed by 77 late on Day Two.
Either side of Allison and Adam Hose’s 66-run partnership, were two major collapses that debilitated the home side and only allowed them a 48 run-lead heading into the final innings of the match.
Losing four wickets late on during the second evening, before the remaining six batters fell for just 13 runs on Tuesday morning, eventually dashed any hopes of a Worcestershire fight back.
“There was moments with our batting where we didn’t work together as a team. I think the collapses show that, certainly yesterday morning was probably as disappointing as I’ve seen in our red ball side since I’ve been in charge in terms of how we went about our stuff.
“It’s not necessarily the execution of the skills, for me, it’s more about how we went about it.
“We slept-walked our way through two hours of cricket, which I don’t think you can do against a very good side.
“I thought it was a really brave decision to go bat first, but I think a correct one. We found ways of getting out though, which didn’t help us.”
Richardson, is intent however, on ensuring his side take the onus moving forward, as they prepare to visit Hampshire, this Sunday, in another vital County Championship assignment.
“Hopefully that core of senior players there have been around long enough to understand what it’s like. Part of a professional Cricketer and Sportsman’s job is how you respond to everything that’s put in front of you, whether that’s a positive or a negative.
“Do you play like that? Absolutely not. So that’s where the challenges come in.
“This is where this club has shown some real character in terms of the adversity that we faced throughout all sorts of periods of time, and how we will always respond to that goes throughout the club in many different aspects, not just the playing team.
“It is our responsibility to make sure that it doesn’t affect us and that we are in the best possible place going forward into the next game.”
