Coach Alex Gidman was delighted with the performance of Worcestershire Seconds when they ended their Championship campaign with a nine wicket success over Derbyshire Seconds at Belper.
The visitors fielded a side made up entirely of Worcestershire CCC players after injuries and first team call-ups have often resulted in triallists being required this summer to reinforce the numbers.
Josh Tongue and Charlie Morris came through their comeback game after injury with no ill effects and Dillon Pennington picked up another six wickets while there were consistent performances with the bat to earn a first innings advantage.
Gidman said: “It was an outstanding performance to be honest. I think it is the first time this year we’ve had a team full of Worcestershire players which is nice.
“As we all know, we’ve had a tough time with injuries so the second team has taken a bit of a hit but the guys proved too each other what we are capable of when we get a good group together.
“It was a fantastic performance and it was really nice particularly for some of the lads who’ve had to play a lot of cricket with triallists.
“They’ve been fantastic and conducted themselves really well. They deserved to have had a very strong bowling attack.
“We had to bear a mind a couple of them hadn’t bowled a ball in anger for a month (Charlie Morris, Josh Tongue).
“There was still a little bit of form to find, a bit of rhythm to find, but they did that as the game went on and everyone went through the gears nicely.
“It worked well. They played really well.”
Gidman added: “The batting performance was not bad. It could have been a bit better. We are always looking to improve and get better and better and I think if we are going to be critical, I believe one of our top seven should have got a hundred.
“It was there for them. But we still got a lead and, for me the best session, although it was pretty obvious, was the morning of the last day when we really hit them hard (with the ball) and got our rewards for the work they put in “
