WE produced a pretty good display in our County Championship match at Hampshire which I felt we dominated from start to finish.

Crucially, we lost more than 100 overs due to the weather but we managed to pick up maximum bowling and batting points as it finished in a draw.

Ed Barnard, Joe Clarke and Colin Munro made their Championship debuts in the match and it has been a while since three players made their bow for Worcestershire in the same game.

After looking at the pitch, we felt it wasn’t going to offer much for the spinners and we went in with an all-seam attack. We don’t regret that decision.

We competed well on the first day after a delayed start and stuck to our task.

Our bowlers put the ball in the right areas and I was delighted we managed to dismiss Hampshire for 222 in their first innings.

Charlie Morris gave us plenty of control and the bowlers worked together as a unit with Joe Leach, Jack Shantry and Barnard all contributing.

On this occasion, Joe picked up nine wickets in the match — five in Hampshire’s first innings and four in the second.

I can’t speak highly enough of Joe’s impact so far this season — he’s taken his chance with both hands.

He came in last season and did well and was perhaps a little bit unfortunate not to be included in the starting line-up at the beginning of the campaign.

He played cricket in Canberra over the winter and has worked incredibly hard at his game and I think he is probably one of the most improved players I have seen.

Joe’s batting has improved and, without sounding harsh, his bowling was not too threatening. But that has changed and he is a different bowler than when he first arrived at the club.

I was relieved and delighted to make 142 not out in our first innings and we did a good job with the bat to make 403-5 before declaring.

I have had a tough start to the season with the bat and it was probably the most nervous I have felt in the 90s since my maiden first-class hundred 10 years ago.

Once again, Ben Cox showed his tremendous form and hit an unbeaten 69 from just 65 balls after Munro had got the ball rolling for us with a quick-fire 34.

We got a couple of early wickets as Joe bowled well with the new ball and we had Hampshire four wickets down on the stroke of lunch in their second innings.

We had an opportunity to go on and win from that position but Hampshire showed resistance, particularly Will Smith and they closed on 245-6.