Worcestershire Head Coach Kadeer Ali believes his side remain firmly in the contest after a fluctuating second day at Chelmsford in their Rothesay County Championship clash with Essex.
Despite Paul Walter’s commanding century for the hosts, Kadeer took heart from the character shown by his side, both in the way they rebuilt from a precarious overnight position and in how they stuck to their task with the ball on a surface still offering assistance.
The day began with Worcestershire resuming on 98-4, and the morning session belonged to Adam Hose and Brett D’Oliveira, who extended their partnership to 102 before falling for identical scores of 48.
“It’s been a rollercoaster so far,” said Kadeer. “I thought this morning’s session when Dolly and Hosey put on a hundred was fantastic. From 22-4 to 124-4 put us in a nice position.
“It was just a shame we couldn’t go on and try and take advantage of that partnership and get to something more substantial. But from where we were yesterday, if you’d asked me whether we’d take any sort of lead, I’d have said absolutely.”
The Pears ended their first innings with a narrow 23-run lead, but Walter’s fluent 104 in Essex’s second innings shifted the momentum. The 30-year-old left-hander guided his side from a fragile 128-5 to a much stronger 233-6 by the close, with a lead of 210.
“Paul Walter played an absolutely great innings today and put us under pressure,” Kadeer acknowledged. “But we’re still in the game and there’s a lot of cricket to go.”
There was frustration, however, over two key dismissals during the morning, Hose caught low at slip and D’Oliveira trapped lbw, both of which sparked debate and disrupted Worcestershire’s progress just as they looked to take control.
“On another day maybe those decisions go the other way and all of a sudden they are under pressure,” said Kadeer. “But that’s cricket. We’ll just put it to one side and crack on.”
With Essex holding a healthy lead going into Day Three, Kadeer knows Worcestershire will need a disciplined bowling display to stay within reach.
While he felt the attack didn’t quite hit the same heights as in the first innings, there were still positives, particularly in the performance of Matthew Waite, who finished the day with three wickets including the prized scalp of Walter late on.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do, but I thought we worked really well with the ball today,” Kadeer said. “We didn’t quite get our lengths right or bowl as well as we did in the first innings. But as Matthew showed, if you get the ball in the right area, there’s still enough in the wicket.
He was superb again with the ball and it was nice to get Walter’s wicket at the end. We’re in an OK position, I’d say we’re slightly ahead in the game.”
