Late Worcestershire victory leaves Richardson relieved

Alan Richardson praised his team’s perseverance after their five-wicket win against Gloucestershire in the dying embers of a County Championship game on Monday.

A draw seemed likely on the final day, with a surface struggling for pace and Gloucestershire in possession of nine second-innings wickets.

That changed when Worcestershire bowled out the visitors for 185, leaving themselves 88 to win.

Even then, the chase was anything but straightforward.

At 70-5, all three results were possible, but Gareth Roderick’s calm 24 and a composed finish from Ethan Brookes edged the hosts to victory as light faded and rain approached.

Richardson said: "It was fairly nerve-wracking wasn’t it by the end.

"But another game here that’s gone down to the wire, so I am really pleased for the boys who put in a hell of a lot of work over the last four days.

“The game definitely had its moments, but it is nice to get there in there.

“There was some rain coming in, and we didn’t quite know when that was happening. 
That came onto our radar with probably about 20/25 to win, so then it was about trying to change the tempo a little bit, which was incredibly hard at the tempo of the game it stuck at a certain rate because of a few reasons, and the wicket was a little bit tricky to score on. 


"Both sides have shown that occupancy of the crease was possible, so yeah, hopefully it was quite an intriguing game for those who watched it."

He credited his players for taking advantage of the opportunity that arose late in the game.

He said: "We had a window of opportunity and we felt like we took that and gave ourselves a real chance to win the game.

"So, that was pleasing and it was nice for the guys who had to work so hard in that first innings, to get the rewards in the second."

In a classic Worcestershire team performance, several individuals stood up at key moments for the Pears with a maiden first-class five-wicket haul for spinner Fateh Singh, and a match-turning spell from Beyers Swanepoel.

A crucial partnership between Matthew Waite (63) and Ethan Brookes (66) that put Worcestershire in control late on day three.

Richardson said: "He (Waite) had a really good game, and since he’s joined us from Yorkshire, he’s had some big impacts for us in red and white ball cricket.

"In many different ways, he scored some runs quickly and, in this game, him and Ethan made their partnership that was really crucial to us.

"I think if you look at the wicket, if we hadn’t got ahead of the game and a little way past Gloucestershire, it would have been really difficult for us to try to win that game."