Director of Cricket Steve Rhodes believes Worcestershire can take "a lot of confidence" from their rain-hit draw with Hampshire at the Ageas Bowl.
Worcestershire collected 12 points from the match against one of the pre-season favourites to gain promotion from Division Two of the LV County Championship.
They bowled out the home side for 263 and collected four batting points thanks mainly to a superb unbeaten 172 from skipper and opener Daryl Mitchell and a partnership of 154 with Moeen Ali (69).
Rhodes said: "We are happy with 12 points and also happy to come away with more points than they have.
"Hampshire are favourites to go up in this competition so I think a lot of sides will struggle to do well against them and I am pleased we put in some good performances against them.
"There are definitely areas where we could have done a lot better in this game as well so to have had the best of it is really exciting.
"We are a very young side trying our best to go forward and I think we will take a lot of confidence from getting the best of the draw.
"We've had two debutants in this game (in Tom Kohler-Cadmore and Charlie Morris) and they've got bright futures ahead of them and it is quite exciting.
"But we start level against Kent on Sunday and we've got to grind it out and win that first day."
Rhodes was full of praise for the innings of Mitchell who is starting his 10th season as a first team player.
The former England wicket-keeper told BBC Hereford-Worcester: "I thought Daryl Mitchell's innings was fantastic for the first game of the season and a great partnership with Moeen Ali.
"He is a wily old dog these days and yet he is only 30 and when you look at his record, there are worse players that have been talked about for international honours.
"The one thing about Mitch is he knows how to bat, he knows how to build an innings, he knows how to score, he knows how to bat long.
"Those are important credentials for being successful as a batsman. This match, he showed his class."
