Jack Shantry admits that "being written off all the time" acts as a spur to the Worcestershire bowling unit as the left armer gears up for tomorrow's LV = County Championship Division One clash with leaders Yorkshire at Scarborough.
Shantry and Joe Leach have taken 44 wickets apiece in Division One this season and Charlie Morris 33 while Saeed Ajmal showed strong signs of returning to his best with eight wickets in the win over Hampshire in the last match at New Road.
Worcestershire have taken maximum bowling points in 37 of their last 38 matches including all 10 games in the top flight this season.
Shantry said: "We are a very disciplined bowling unit in first class cricket and also T20. We hone our skills, we work very hard.
"If you look at a lot of Division One attacks, ours has no real big names in there with the exception of Ajmal, of course.
"We feel we have to prove ourselves and this season I feel we have been proving ourselves for most of the games.
"Is that a motivation? I think so. We get written off all the time in Division One and it's a little bit tiresome to be honest.
"Using that as a positive and trying to hit back at the critics is also something we like to do. It is something we talk about, definitely."
Shantry believes two or three more wins would ensure top flight survival for Worcestershire.
He said: "You'd think if we win two of our last six games, it gives us a chance. If we win three, we'd probably stay up.
"That is a massive motivation now for all of the lads and there is no doubt from anyone in the dressing room that we can do that."
As regards the clash with Yorkshire, Shantry said: "It will be interesting to see what they do with the wicket, whether they have a green seamer or leave it a little bit flat with less grass.
"Hopefully they will take that game for granted because they are top of the league and we are near the bottom. Hopefully we can cause a surprise."
Worcestershire held a narrow first innings lead in the home clash with Yorkshire before eventually being beaten by 10 wickets.
Shantry said: "That's been the story of our season really. We've had first innings leads in eight of the 10 games now.
"With that stat, you'd think you'd win probably more than two of those games.
"You can look at on a positive side and say we've been fantastic in the first innings or you can say we haven't backed up in the second innings very well.
"That's something to improve on. But if we can get a first innings lead again up in Yorkshire, the confidence will be very high."
