Daryl Mitchell felt his century partnership with George Rhodes gave Worcestershire momentum to declare earlier against Gloucestershire who then lost three early wickets chasing a 401 target in the Specsavers County Championship clash at New Road.
Mitchell scored his fifth Championship century of the season as Worestershire declared at 295-8 to set the visitors a 401 target.
But he was full of praise for the contribution of Rhodes who made 45 and has featured in several three figure stands since claiming a spot in the side for the longer format of the game.
Mitchell said: “Dolly (Brett D’Oliveira) got off to a flying start which meant I could just hang in there for a bit and after lunch it was quite nice to capitalise on some loose bowling.
“I was surprised they didn’t start with Tom Smith straight after lunch and we got a bit of a hurry-on for an hour or so, myself and George (Rhodes), and we got some momentum which allowed us to declare earlier which was nice.
“We didn’t want to look too far ahead at the start of the day. It was all about getting that steady start and a base to explode from later on really.
“Fortunately we got off to a flier and myself and then George put that really important partnership on.
“I thought George played a huge part in that.”
Mitchell added: “The pitch is starting to spin a little bit more than the first two days and hopefully it will go a little bit more tomorrow.
“It is certainly very slow, as it has been throughout the game, and there are a few balls staying down as well now.
“If we can bowl nice and straight and the seamers attack the wickets,that will be probably the way to go tomorrow morning.”
