Worcestershire Head Coach Alan Richardson gave an honest assessment after his side were resigned to a 141-run defeat by Middlesex, falling away on the final day of a frustrating Rothesay County Championship clash at New Road.
Chasing a daunting 358 to win, Ben Allison’s magnificent 89 threw the Pears a lifeline in a morning session that gave the hosts plenty of belief as they lost just one wicket.
The dismissal of Worcestershire’s top-scorer 11 runs short of a maiden first-class century came as part of a cluster of middle-order wickets that saw the Pears collapse from 131-3 to 155-7.
Zafar Gohar was the catalyst on a day four pitch that offered plenty for the spinner, as Middlesex worked their way through the rest of the home side’s batters, sealing victory early on in the final session.
Reflecting on the defeat, Richardson detailed areas of the Worcestershire performance that he felt saw his side fall short.
“As per usual with any defeat, real disappointment and frustration, but I think a little bit of that is around the performance as well.
“We’ve competed as well as we can, for the duration of the game and there’s been moments, but ultimately in a four-day game of cricket, you have to do it for longer than we have done really.
“We were hanging on and that’s not good enough to win a game of cricket. You can do it for a while and you might be able to then salvage something, like you might be able to get a win from there or a draw, but more often than not you are struggling.
“We need to do the basics for longer. That means being able to bat for longer, being able to create pressure for longer with the ball. That means holding onto our chances and fielding better.
“I feel like we’ve been slightly immature in and around how we’ve gone about things in this game.
“Fair play to Middlesex, they did the basics of the game for longer than us, which is the disappointing thing.”
After suffering a third Division Two defeat of the season, the Pears have a chance to bounce back in just four days’ time, when Gloucestershire visit New Road.
With the result against Middlesex heightening the importance of the inbound round seven clash this Friday, Worcestershire will be eager to finish the block of Division Two action in a more positive manner.
Following a collective examination of Monday’s loss at home, Richardson urged his side to take their next opportunity and hit back against a Gloucestershire side who currently occupy bottom place in Division Two.
“Usually, we continually debrief throughout the game, and then as a group we’ll go up in the changing rooms now and have a discussion about that as coaches.
“We’ve spoken, but it’s really important for the players to have their say and we can go through that as much as possible to make sure that we’re in a better place for Friday.
“We’ve got tomorrow which will be a day off and then we’ll train for a couple of days and then we’re back at it on Friday.
“That can be a good thing because it’s an opportunity for us to get back on it, but we have to make sure that we address the things that we need to and make sure we have a better chance on Friday against Gloucestershire.”
