alex gidman was delighted with worcestershire’s return to the winning trail in specsavers county championship cricket and felt “doing the basics, really, really well” was a key component in the 155 run victory over glamorgan at New Road.
daryl mitchell’s epic contributions with the bat spanning more than eight hours in total and bringing contributions of 36 and 139 was the bedrock of the worcestershire batting performance.
hamish rutherford, jack haynes and riki wessels also made important contributions while the attack, in which charlie morris picked up seven wickets, bowled with plenty of discipline and patience.
first team coach gidman said: “really proud of that performance. we all know it’s been a tough sort of couple of months with our red ball cricket.
“we have got ourselves into good positions and haven’t quite been able to capitalise but this game we did.
“really pleasing and winning is winning. it’s a good habit to get into and it would be nice to continue that for the remainder of the season.
“what pleased you most? as daft as it sounds, we just did the basics really, really well. we’ve been close to doing the basics well.
“we just haven’t quite done it for long enough. in this game, we were really patient and disciplined with the ball, particularly in the first innings and then we had a couple of guys occupy the crease for long periods of time.
“we know that doing the basics in the game is really hard but we will continue to try and keep doing those and we are a good team when we can do that, like anyone. just the basics done well, really efficient, really disciplined.”
on mitchell’s performance, gidman said: “in the second innings, he got the runs, but i think the first innings was equally important in the sense of occupying the crease, facing a lot of balls.
“that’s what we’ve needed from anyone, not just daryl. generally the top three or four have been in the same boat and we haven’t quite done it for long enough.
“like any team when you get someone who does that at the top of the order, it gives you a really good chance.
“daryl is a very experienced player. he has been through some tough times before. perhaps by his own admittance, this one might have been a little bit of a longer patch than he would have liked or been used to.
“but one thing we know about daryl is that he is a competitor and he desperately wants to do well all the time.
“attitude and application has never been missing, just a little bit of luck and some good bowling hasn’t helped, but he has never been a million miles away and he proved to everyone how good he is.
“he’s been very patient and worked hard for this and it will be great for him if he can continue to finish the season really strongly.”
gidman also was full of praise for haynes, in only his second championship game, and his partnership of 69 in 34 overs with mitchell.
he said: “really excited about jack. we all are. it’s a good team for him to play in and obviously around the likes of daryl and mo (moeen ali) and rikki (wessels) , to have those experienced guys around him is crucial.
“it was brilliant watching him and daryl bat together. it is what county cricket is all about, watching a younger guy operating with an older guy and the communication and that combination was really pleasing.
“that is one of the most satisfying things about this job, watching a young, new player, really excited at the beginning of his career, learning his trade from someone who has been around the block.
“it was really refreshing and i’m sure jack would have learnt a lot batting with mitch and being around the group and he looks very comfortable.”
