22/7/01 - Moody praise for County pace duo

The pace duo put the County on course for victory with deadly bowling displays on Saturday which left skipper Graeme Hick's in-form side to score a modest 70 to secure their second Championship triumph on the trot.

After resuming on 14-0 yesterday, they took just 52 minutes to seal the win despite the battling efforts of Gloucestershire paceman Ian Harvey who removed Anurag Singh (15), Graeme Hick (0) and Vikram Solanki (12) cheaply.

Hero Bichel finished with a match return of 10-86 while Kabir claimed a career-best 5-22 when the shell-shocked visitors were bombed out in their second innings for a meagre 87.

Moody said: "It's good to see Bichel get a good return for his efforts because there's no man that tries as hard as he does. I think the players and supporters are realising the effort he puts in. Also, on the other hand, it's great to see the young up-and-coming star Kabir Ali get some joy as well.

"He bowled exceptionally well in the conditions and things are looking positive allround."

For fifth-in-the-table Worcestershire it completed the 'double' over Gloucestershire who they crushed by 252 runs at Bristol in late May.

Moody said: "It was very pleasing. The guys played some good cricket and it's nice to get a day off before tomorrow's big game against Leicestershire.

"I thought we bowled very well in the first innings as well, but it was probably a little bit more polished in the second and it made it very difficult for Gloucestershire to get away."

Batsmen departed regularly on a pitch which will not be reported by the umpires, with Bichel taking the opportunity to hoist his impressive tally of scalps so far this season to 46 in ten Championship matches.

This time last year his fellow Australian Glenn McGrath had claimed 48 victims for Worcestershire in the same number of games.