County frustrated by leak in covers (From Worcester News)

County frustrated by leak in covers

6:31pm Friday 26th August 2011 in Match Reports By Michael Reeves, twitter.com/michaelreevesWN

DIRECTOR of cricket Steve Rhodes cut a frustrated figure as his Worcestershire side had to settle for a weather-affected draw at Hampshire.

The New Road outfit could only sit and watch as the rain came down in Southampton yesterday before it was discovered there was a leak in the covers.

Water managed to get on to the wicket where the bowler takes off and lands and umpires Nigel Llong and Martin Saggers deemed the pitch was unplayable until late on the final day of this LV= County Championship Division One relegation battle.

“My own view was that we could have got out there earlier than we did, but it wasn’t my decision to make,” Rhodes said.

“The rain had got on to the pitch and it meant the landing areas had to be dug up and re-turfed.

“It was frustrating, but there was very little we could do about it - it was just one of those things.”

The draw at the Rose Bowl lifted Worcestershire out of the drop-zone in Division One with a two-point cushion over Yorkshire and a game in hand.

But, with the County in a strong position at Southampton, a victory, however unlikely due to the opening day being washed out, would have given the New Road side some much-needed breathing space in their bid for survival.

Yet Rhodes, who handed West Indies pace man Kemar Roach his County debut just five hours after stepping off the plane from Barbados, was pleased with how his bowlers performed on the south coast.

“We bowled very well in spells,” the County boss said. “In particular, Gareth Andrew and Richard Jones.

“But Kemar had a great new ball burst in the second innings to pick up the wickets of Neil McKenzie and Liam Dawson.”

The Worcestershire director of cricket was full of praise for his new overseas star as he showed the type of commitment the County are looking for in the fight against relegation.

“It was a great effort from Kemar to step straight off the plane and on to the park,” Rhodes said.

“He worked extremely hard and he told captain Daryl Mitchell that he’s here to work - that is exactly what we want.”

Play finally managed to get under way at 4.20pm with just 26 overs left for the County to try and close out what would have been a remarkable victory.

But the Hampshire batsmen, Dimitri Mascarenhas and Chris Wood, set about the Worcestershire bowlers.

Resuming on 84-6, the Rose Bowl side had raced on to 157-6, a lead of 132, before the teams shook hands after 12 overs with Wood unbeaten on 56.

Worcestershire now welcome title-chasing Lancashire to New Road on Wednesday in their next championship game and Rhodes hopes his team can cause an upset after coming close at Blackpool last week.

“Take out that fine new ball spell from Glenn Chapple and the century from Steven Croft, then it was a tremendous effort,” he added.

“It is going to be difficult, we know that after four hard days at Blackpool, but we can go into the match in a positive manner.”