worcestershire achieved their highest ever total at the kia oval as their specsavers county championship division one clash with surrey ended in a draw.
head coach kevin sharp’s side amassed 526 all out and surpassed the previous best total of 476 in 2014 when moeen ali scored 162.
it earned them a first innings lead of 92 and then surrey were made to be watchful for the bulk of the afternoon before ending the game on 173-3 and scott borthwick unbeaten on 82.
there were many plus points for worcestershire to take from the game after a trio of defeats had launched the season.
the bowlers – including debutant spinner ben twohig – stuck determinedly to their task and never wilted in the searing heat in bowling out the brown caps for 434.
paceman charlie morris showed more encouraging signs on his return to the first team squad after his well documented battles to remodel his action.
then the batsmen, who had encountered bowler-friendly conditions in the previous three games, stood up superbly to the scoreboard pressure with joe clarke scoring a century and four other players passing 50 including tom fell in a fine return to form.
it all adds up to a major boost to confidence for head coach kevin sharp’s side ahead of this friday’s championship encounter with champions essex at New Road.
worcestershire collected 11 points from the game via two bowling and four batting bonus points plus five for securing a draw.
they resumed on 469-6 and extended their first innings by a further 57 runs before being bowled out with spinner amar virdi taking all four wickets to fall today.
twohig (6) was caught at mid on in the second over of the day before barnard went to his half century off 99 balls with a single off rikki clarke.
skipper joe leach, who was dropped at leg slip from his first delivery, made a breezy 18 before holing out to extra cover.
josh tongue (9) was caught and bowled and the innings ended when barnard departed in the same manner.
his 66 contained four boundaries and spanned 135 deliveries.
surrey openers mark stoneman and skipper rory burns, who hit 193 in the first innings, negotiated 11 overs in making 35-0 by lunch.
but morris bowled a probing post interval spell and was rewarded when stoneman (20) was leg before.
twohig also settled into a nice rhythm and he enjoyed a breakthrough as burns (30) went for a sweep and perished to a superb catch in the deep by barnard diving forward at 74-2.
a third success came on the stroke of tea as ryan patel (25) was caught at mid wicket after pulling a delivery from morris.
but then borthwick and ben foakes (11 not out) saw surrey through until the two teams shook hands at 4.50pm.
