WORCESTERSHIRE head coach Alan Richardson admits his side ‘were not quite at the races’ after the Pears suffered defeat against Surrey by an innings and five runs on their return to County Championship action.
After Surrey posted 490 in their first innings, the defending champions bowled Worcestershire out for 212 and forced the home side to follow-on at New Road.
And the Pears could only score 273 in their second innings to suffer a heavy defeat much to the frustration of head coach Richardson.
Richardson said: “We were never quite at the races in giving ourselves a chance to compete.
“Surrey played very well, in patches we played well, and played with some great spirit and skill, but that’s not going to be enough to win a four day game of cricket.
“When we conceded 490, on what was a pretty good wicket, it always put us behind.
“We needed a really good effort in the second innings to make sure we weren’t too far behind and we were, and that put a lot of pressure on us in that third innings.
“Dan Lawrence played very well and was very effective. When we won the toss, we didn’t expect them to get 490.
“We didn’t quite bowl as well as we can. That was quite tough when they got 490 and we didn’t quite respond as well as we could.
“Over the last three games, we haven’t done as well. First five games, we got a lot of batting points and played in partnerships.
“We haven’t given ourselves a chances to do that in these last three games.”
Worcestershire took a couple of early wickets after winning the toss and electing to bowl as Tom Taylor (3-99) and Ben Allison (2-55) removed Rory Burns (0) and Ollie Pope (14) respectively.
However, a 149-run third-wicket stand between Dom Sibley (76) and Jamie Smith (86) put Surrey in command.
The Pears kept themselves in the contest as Shoaib Bashir (2-162) eventually took the wicket of Sibley and Adam Finch (2-82) removed Smith.
Surrey also put on a 131-run fifth-wicket stand as Dan Lawrence (175) produced a stunning innings which included 22 boundaries made up of 16 fours and six sixes.
And Ben Foakes (52) also chipped in with a half-century as the visitors posted 490 in their first innings.
In reply, the Pears slumped to 102-7 as only captain and opener Jake Libby (77) impressed with the bat in Worcestershire’s top order.
Allison (21) and Finch (27 not out) helped the Pears reach 212 all out as Surrey enforced the follow-on.
Worcestershire’s top order improved in their second innings as Libby (28), Gareth Roderick (63) and Kashif Ali (66) all scored useful runs.
However, Surrey took three wickets in as many overs to halt Worcestershire’s momentum.
Only Adam Hose (64) passed the 15-run mark outside of the Pears top order batters as Jordan Clark (5-65) took the former’s wicket to inflict a heavy defeat on the home side.
Worcestershire are next in action against Durham on Sunday, June 30 with the game to begin at 11am at the Riverside Ground.
