Seamer Andre Adams hailed the impact from England international Stuart Broad in ensuring Nottinghamshire got their LV County Championship campaign off to a winning start.
Broad picked up two more wickets on the final day as Worcestershire were dismissed for 146 in their second innings, handing Notts victory by an innings and five runs.
That added to the 22-year-old’s first innings five-wicket haul and quick-fire 60 in a fine all-round contribution in what may be his only Notts appearance of the season due to international commitments.
Adams himself got the ball rolling in the second innings with two vital wickets in the evening session on day three, as well as removing Ben Smith on the final morning.
The remaining wickets were shared around the attack, with Graeme Swann finishing the match by having Worcestershire skipper Vikram Solanki caught by Broad at mid-off and number 11 Imran Arif holing out to Samit Patel at midwicket.
Adams admitted the match had been hard work with Notts missing quick bowler Darren Pattinson for all but 12 overs, making the win even more satisfying.
He said: “It’s massive to win the first game of the season. You go into the campaign dreaming of winning the Championship, but the first goal must be to avoid relegation and that means getting points on the board early on.
“We knew it was going to be hard work after getting 505 and seeing ‘Patto’ go off made it even harder.
“But Stuart stepped up in the first innings with his five-for and that set the platform for us all to chip second time around.
“It’s the first time I’ve played with Stuart and it’s clear that he’s an exceptional talent. He bowls at decent pace, gets good bounce and has a good cricket brain.
“We had quite a lot of discussions about how we were going to get the batsmen out and it was great to see such a young lad having ideas to offer. He’s a very intelligent bowler.”
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