ALAN Richardson admits Worcestershire CCC ‘got away with one’ following a rain-affected draw against rivals Warwickshire at New Road.
The Pears had just two wickets in hand when the rain came down and washed out the final 47 overs of play in the County Championship fixture.
Worcestershire remain bottom of the Division One table, five points behind Yorkshire, after the first block of County Championship fixtures.
And Richardson praised the batting combination of Ethan Brookes and Matthew Waite as the Pears dug in to claim a share of the points.
Richardson said: “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.
“There are some guys who really put their hand up and batted for long periods of time, none more so than Ethan Brookes and Matthew Waite.
“We got ourselves in a little bit of a hole, they then put together a 60-run partnership, batting really well.
“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.”
The Pears must now turn their attention to the T20 Blast season.
And Richardson hopes his players will embrace the change of format following a difficult start to their County Championship campaign.
Richardson added: “You can look at it one of two ways, really.
“You can either have that mindset [the tough start will affect the 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 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.”
The Rapids travel to Lancashire Lightning on Thursday, May 29 with the game to start at 6.30pm at Old Trafford.
