Vice-Captain Jake Libby says “the lads are up for the fight” as Worcestershire look to end the 2022 season on an encouraging note in the LV=Insurance County Championship match with Middlesex at New Road.
Worcestershire are looking to continue the positive performances shown in the rain-affected games with Glamorgan and Sussex and the win over
Nottinghamshire by defying the Middlesex attack and securing a draw.
It will be a challenge on a wicket still offering enough encouragement to the seamers despite Middlesex scoring 509 to virtually seal promotion back to Division One.
At the end of day three, Libby said: “It is not the day we would have liked, but we’ve still got tomorrow to try and turn that around.
“We know we’ve got to bat really well to bat the whole day to get the draw.
“It’s been a long season. This is the last day ahead. We’ve had a really good month where the weather has hurt us. We’ve played some really good cricket in September.
“We feel in red ball cricket we’ve had a good season. Alex (Gidman) said to us he wants one last push, and I know as a group we want to finish well.
“We don’t want to let ourselves down by rolling over tomorrow (day four), so we will come with plenty of fight.
“We’ve not let ourselves down this game, but we haven’t been quite on it. The aim now is to leave with some pride ahead of that long winter ahead.”
Dillon Pennington was the pick of the bowlers and deserved better figures than 2-69 from 27 overs as he took his wicket tally to 44 for the season.
Libby said: “There were periods when we didn’t bowl well, and we would acknowledge that, but equally, there were periods when we bowled really well and just didn’t get the rewards.
“Dillon was exceptional for large periods of the day and just couldn’t buy a wicket.
“He had a couple of overs at Steve Eskinazi when he constantly played and missed, and I don’t know how he didn’t get a wicket.
“It is one of those wickets when, if it has done something, it has done a lot. It is a strange game at times, and hopefully we can come back for one last push
tomorrow.”
Another big plus was Gareth Roderick taking six catches to equal the record in an innings in Championship cricket for a Worcestershire keeper.
Libby said: “A good effort. It was one of those sort of pitches where you are in the game a lot as a keeper with a lot of nicks in play when it is seaming around.
“Fair play to him; he has done really well since he came into the side with the bat and the gloves. He is a top keeper. I’m really pleased for him.”
