Head coach Matt Maynard was 'very happy' with his side's performance after they secured a front foot draw in their opening LV= Insurance County Championship match of the season against Yorkshire at Headingley and took 14 points back home to Wales.
"I'm very happy with the performance against a strong Yorkshire side, to play the way we have and come away with more points is testimony that we were a bit better than them in this game," said Maynard.
"We got some good partnerships together with the bat, and although Ben Coad was outstanding for them, as a bowling unit I think we bowled better, and in the field we had a lot of energy, so delighted with a lot of things.
The Welsh county were pushing for a victory on the final afternoon but were forced to bowl two spinners in tandem to avoid penalty points being administered with Maynard backing the decision made by captain Chris Cooke on a flattening pitch and inclement weather around.
"We thought we'd need some early wickets but we let them back in because we had to get our over rate up. We were three overs down and you lose a point an over, hence dual spin at a time when you'd have at least one seamer on, if not both ends. We probably missed an opportunity at that stage but the captain did exactly the right thing because of the weather, we looked as if we would come off for quite a while.
"We got that through and then we could have another go after tea, even with the game pretty much gone and the wicket quite flat, the ball had gone soft, we showed great character with the spell from Hogan, Douthwaite, van der Gugten, and I thought Taylor got more and more into it in very difficult cold conditions for spin bowlers.”
Maynard was full of praise for batsman Billy Root who struck the 6th first-class century of his career and first against his former side, with the runs that took him to his hundred coming against England captain and big brother, Joe Root.
“There were a lot of things going on there in both camps, first time they’ve played each other in a first-class match, I’m sure they’d have had loads of duels in the back garden over the years. I said to Chris Cooke, if we do manage to get a situation, let’s get Billy in to bowl at Joe as soon as possible because he’ll want to try to take him down and we had a very good lbw shout.
“I’m delighted for Billy against his former employers, he’s tried so hard to get a consistent county gig and we’ve welcomed him, he’s fitted into our plans terrifically and he’s been performing really well. He’s trialled at various counties but hopefully he’s found his home for a good many years yet.”
“All being well the same 13 man squad but we’ll have to see when everyone comes together, whether there’s been no reaction from any of the bowlers because they really put in the effort in cold conditions.
“I’m very happy with the start and hopefully we’ll start with the same 13.”