Worcestershire Assistant Coach Kadeer Ali was pleased with how his side hit back late on the opening day against Hampshire, as the hosts took two quick wickets after a tough start to the match
After being delayed at the start of the day, the hosts headed into a prolonged tea break without a wicket to their name, as Hampshire eased their way to 127-0.
Upon resumption, the visitors added a further 17 runs, before Tom Taylor and Ben Allison struck in consecutive overs, to change the mood in the Worcestershire camp before leaving the field close to 6:30pm for bad light.
Ali, was relieved at the fightback, after the bowlers had struggled to retain consistency across the afternoon session.
“I think a little bit of a frustrating day in terms of the weather and the way we probably bowled in that middle session overall.
“I thought we started off nicely with the ball, Khurram and Tommy Taylor beat the bat and we had a chance that went down.
“Then I thought the second half of the first session, we didn’t get our lengths right, bowled a little bit both sides of the wicket and the Hampshire openers played really nicely.
“They punished us when we got it wrong, but those two wickets at the end just gives us a nice finish for the day.”
On a day where only 39.2 overs could be mustered amongst the intermittent showers, Hampshire looked to have dominated proceedings when tea was extended by over an hour, with light fading and the visitors 127-0.
However, the home side were thrown a lifeline when the umpires confirmed there would be 11 overs to be bowled upon resumption at 6pm – during which time Taylor and Allison combined to remove both openers.
Ali, said that was exactly what his side were looking to do, and will continue to force things early tomorrow morning.
“Our aim was to try and pick up a couple of wickets. Two/three wickets. And we’ve done that now, which is really nice, and hopefully tomorrow morning, if we start well, pick up a couple early ones again then, you know, all of a sudden they’re 150 for five or four.
“So we could be sitting in a decent position in the morning.”
With a crucial session lying in wait for the home side first up tomorrow, Ali does not need reminding of the improvements his bowlers must make in order to force their way back on top of the match.
“There’s still a lot of cricket to go, and if we can bowl as well as we can as a unit and hopefully create some more opportunities in the morning, the game keeps moving.
“If we start well, pick up wickets, then all of a sudden we’re in a quite strong position but it’s important that we hit good areas and at least stop the scoring.
“The quicker ball is more of a challenge from a bowling point of view, so we have just got to hit good areas for as long as we can, hope we catch some edges and we catch them.”
