worcestershire head coach kevin sharp has given his reaction after the conclusion of the specsavers county championship encounter with nottinghamshire at New Road.
sharp said: “it’s been a challenging three weeks. we’ve not been at our best, we know that. we’ve challenged at times, particularly in the first two games but not really in this one and that is disappointing.
“we’ve just had a good chat, a good half hour, about where we can improve. they are a great set of lads. they practice hard, they work hard, they prepare in the best possible way.
“we’ve certainly been under par this week, particularly with the bat. we know it and we have to get better.
“we know there are some really top sides to play against and division one sides are more experienced and there is strength in depth.
“but there lies the challenges and that is what these lads want to do and, if we didn’t know before, we certainly do now in terms of what is expected.
“to lose in five sessions hurts, it is not nice. someone asked me if i was enjoying myself and it is not easy to enjoy yourself in such circumstances.
“but i’ve been at this club four years now, i’ve seen these lads growing up and they are fine players and they have not performed to that as yet.
“but i’ve every confidence and belief that they will come through and, by september, things will have turned around.
“there is international experience wherever you go and that is what you come up against and we have to be confident enough and believe enough we can play against that and be successful against it.
“has confidence taken a knock? it is bound to do. we’ve not go that many runs from the top six. as a bowling group, it’s got better.
“we were probably a little bit under-cooked in the first innings at hampshire but since then the bowling unit have done pretty well in all fairness.
“at somerset the one thing that let us down was a few dropped catches. we dropped hildreth four times and he made 150 runs in the match.”
