Worcestershire Head Coach Alan Richardson gave an honest assessment after his side were resigned to a 141-run defeat by Middlesex, falling away on the final day of a frustrating Rothesay County Championship clash at New Road.
Chasing a daunting 358 to win, Ben Allison’s magnificent 89 threw the Pears a lifeline in a morning session that gave the hosts plenty of belief as they lost just one wicket.
The dismissal of Worcestershire’s top-scorer 11 runs short of a maiden first-class century came as part of a cluster of middle-order wickets that saw the Pears collapse from 131-3 to 155-7.
Zafar Gohar was the catalyst on a day four pitch that offered plenty for the spinner, as Middlesex worked their way through the rest of the home side’s batters, sealing victory early on in the final session.
Reflecting on the defeat, Richardson detailed areas of the Worcestershire performance that he felt saw his side fall short.
“As per usual with any defeat, real disappointment and frustration, but I think a little bit of that is around the performance as well.
“We’ve competed as well as we can, for the duration of the game and there’s been moments, but ultimately in a four-day game of cricket, you have to do it for longer than we have done really.
“We were hanging on and that’s not good enough to win a game of cricket. You can do it for a while and you might be able to then salvage something, like you might be able to get a win from there or a draw, but more often than not you are struggling.
“We need to do the basics for longer. That means being able to bat for longer, being able to create pressure for longer with the ball. That means holding onto our chances and fielding better.
“I feel like we’ve been slightly immature in and around how we’ve gone about things in this game.
“Fair play to Middlesex, they did the basics of the game for longer than us, which is the disappointing thing.”