Gareth Roderick says Worcestershire will look to maximise the lead on first innings when day two of the LV=Insurance County Championship match with Leicestershire at Oakham School, dominated so far by the bowlers, resumes on Thursday.
Eighteen wickets in seam-bowler friendly conditions tumbled on the opening day with Worcestershire reducing the home side to 88-8 after totalling 178 all out.
Roderick was full of praise for the way the Worcestershire attack hit back after Leicestershire began their innings after tea and they will look to continue in the same vein.
Roderick said: “A few things went on, 18 wickets! I think we stuck at it quite well at the end and, to get those eight wickets, puts us in a great position going into tomorrow.
“It is one of those pitches where there was a lot of playing and missing, a lot of chances.
“We expected Leicestershire to have a partnership at some stage but thankfully everytime they got one going we tended to get a breakthrough.
“The bowlers did really, really well and sometimes when you see wickets tumbling, there is an expectation for the bowlers to go out and do a job, and that can be quite tough.
“But the boys hit their lines and lengths quite consistently and got their rewards.”
Roderick added: “We’ve got a lead of 90 and we want to maximise that lead as much as we can.
“We need to try and make sure they get those two wickets tomorrow but they’ve got a good player (Rehan Ahmed) who is set and can be quite dangerous at times.
“It is going to be a mixture of making sure you’ve got a spread field, so you don’t give away too many boundaries, but then having your catchers in to make sure you take those wickets when they come.”
Roderick scored 28 during an opening stand of 48 in 15 overs with Jake Libby, the highest partnership of the day.
He said: “On another day we could have been three, four, five wickets down in that first session. I think it was the rub of the green.
“It is one of those pitches where you hold the line and hope you play and miss and get a little luck here and there, and put a few loose balls away.”
