Tom Taylor paid tribute to his fellow bowlers after taking centre stage on the final day to steer Worcestershire to a comprehensive Rothesay County Championship victory over Kent.
Having bowled with his usual accuracy and discipline in the first innings and only claiming one wicket, the Pears front man was unlucky to not be rewarded further, with and handful of chances in the field going begging.
However, last summer’s leading wicket taker in Division One hit back in emphatic style, taking three crucial wickets on the final morning on his way to season best figures of 5-56.
After producing such a key spell early in the piece on the final day, Taylor said on reflection the bowlers got what they deserved having dug deep to take all 20 Kent wickets and secure an emphatic victory inside three days.
“I mean, it seems like an important spell now, looking back after taking those wickets with the new ball.
“We knew from how we batted on it that it is hard work getting 20 wickets or it was going to be trying to get another 10 after our innings. But we just tried to hammer away and we got our rewards.
“I was a little bit frustrated in that first innings. I thought I bowled reasonably well and then came away with just the one wicket, but I came back to try and change my luck in the second innings and fortunately that paid off.”
Having lost the toss, eyebrows were raised when the visiting Captain Daniel Bell-Drummond elected to bat first, and the Kent skipper may have been left pondering his own decision when his side were 99-7.
Relentless pressure with the ball kept the Pears on top throughout the Division Two clash, with Taylor supported aptly by Oliver Hannon-Dalby, Matthew Waite, Ethan Brookes and debutant Beyers Swanepoel.
Taylor was delighted with the application his side showed to force a convincing win, after Brett D’Oliveira and Adam Hose laid the foundations in Worcestershire’s mammoth 447 first innings total.
“As a reflection of how the pitch looked we did really well in the first innings to put pressure on them, and then we showed what we could do with the bat when the wicket is true to go and get those 400 runs and a big lead sets you up well for that third innings to go and stick the pressure on.
“It’s a massive strength of ours. Even taking that result from the first week against Derbyshire, showing that character we did even when we didn’t play our best cricket in that game, we came away with a draw.
“We have taken that momentum then into these two games and we’ve played really well.
“We’ve showed a much better side of ourselves in the last two games, and we’ve gone on and beaten two good sides.”
