Worcestershire Head Coach, Alan Richardson, was quick to highlight the positive contributions amongst his team, after rain forced an early finish on Day Four of the Rothesay County Championship match against Warwickshire, saving his side from probable defeat.
Precariously positioned at 181-8, the hosts needed a further 148 runs to win, as Warwickshire pressed on in pursuit of the final two wickets required for victory late on in the match.
Early on in the afternoon session, however, the heavens opened over Visit Worcestershire New Road, with the match being abandoned shortly before 6pm – providing the Pears with 11 crucial points.
With Matthew Waite and Ethan Brookes once again at the forefront of the batting repost, Richardson, highlighted the significance of their impact on the result.
“We got away with one. I think we’ve been pushed hard by a good side, a very good bowling attack and a side who batted a long way down.
“I’d like to think that we take as much confidence out of it as we can in terms of some of the performances we put together and how we stuck together as a team, but looking at it at lunch time today, it was going to be a long slog for us to get anything out of it.
“There are some guys who really put their hand up and batted for long periods of time, none more so than Ethan Brooks and Matthew Waite. Today we got ourselves in a little bit of a hole, they then put together a 60-run partnership, batting really well.
Heading into the fixture, points were pivotal for the home side, who continued their battle in the bottom-half of Division One, but the mood was optimistic after the previous win over Essex.
Sustained periods of pressure with both the bat and ball held the key for Worcestershire during that particular victory, a trend that proved difficult to repeat against a strong Bears outfit this time out.
Richardson, however, was pleased with how his side responded in some testing conditions and stayed in the match.
“In terms of some of the batting performances and partnerships, it’s not always easy to take something out of it when you’ve scored under 200 in both innings, but I think it was quite a tricky surface at times against a high-quality bowling attack.
“It was challenging throughout, I think whatever surface we would have played them on, they would have asked some really testing questions. I think the fact that we held our hands up in periods of time to make sure that we got somewhere close to parity was key.
“Certainly, as a bowling unit I think that we did really well throughout and it’s nice to see Jacob Duffy, get his first five-for for the club, and Tommy Taylor, continuing his fine form for the season.
Taking one win and one draw from the opening block of County Championship fixtures, the Pears begin their Vitality T20 Blast campaign this Thursday, with a chance to start afresh.
A trip to Old Trafford to face Lancashire awaits the Worcestershire outfit, as the squad look to improve on last year’s disappointing group-stage display and go further in the 2025 tournament.
Dismissing claims that the tough start to the red-ball will have an affect on the playing group, Richardson, is keen for both the players and staff to enjoy the change of format by expressing themselves.
“You can look at it one of two ways, really. You can either have that mindset, which I think is quite negative, or have the idea that it’s a real change. It’s a real opportunity to go out and play your shots and play with an element of courage and freedom, which is not always what you can do in a red ball game.
“We have literally got two days, and some of the guys are even playing tomorrow (Tuesday) in the second team, but it’s an opportunity to show our skill set off in a different format.
“I think that’s really important for us, and we talk about it a lot, but the schedule has been there for a long time. We always knew this was going to happen, so we see it as a window of opportunity, rather than something that’s going to be looked at as a negative.”
