HEAD coach Kevin Sharp argued dropped catches in the first innings had been responsible for Worcestershire's demise against Hampshire.

The New Road outfit sit bottom of County Championship Division One after a 114-run defeat to their relegation rivals.

It was a low-scoring encounter with disappointing totals of 120 and 133 with the bat for Worcestershire but on a seamer-friendly wicket, Sharp felt missed opportunities to claim scalps had been telling.

“In many ways it was a close encounter," said Sharp.

"I just think that we probably didn’t start the game as well as we would have liked.

"The first hour and a half, with the overcast conditions and a misty morning, I don’t think it quite happened and we didn’t challenge as well as we could have with the ball in that period.

“We also dropped a couple of chances as well. Overall this year one of the differences has been that we have put down one or two catches at vital times to key players which has sometimes cost us a little bit.

“That is not through lack of preparation, effort or anything like that. It has happened.

"If we had caught a couple early on the first morning Hampshire, like in all the other three innings, could have been 20 for four quite easily.

“Maybe they would have scored 70 fewer in their first innings and the game would have been so, so close.”

Hampshire's first-team coach Craig White agreed that the first innings had proved decisive with special praise for wicket-taking extraordinaire Kyle Abbott.

“It was a great effort," said White.

"We knew it was going to be tough so to get 190 was a good effort and then to bowl them out and take a 70-run lead into our second innings was crucial.

“The partnership between (Tom) Alsop and (Liam) Dawson in our second innings was fantastic and then Abbott’s spell cracked things open for us.

“There were a lot of key performances and it was generally a great team effort. Everyone chipped in.

“When it was ebbing and flowing in our second innings and we were losing wickets, we thought we would have a great chance if we could scrape 200.

“The Alsop-Dawson partnership just took the game out of their reach."