LEFT-ARMER Jack Shantry admits that “being written off all the time” acts as a spur to the Worcestershire bowling unit.

Shantry and Joe Leach have taken 44 wickets apiece in Division One this season and Charlie Morris 33 while Saeed Ajmal showed strong signs of returning to his best with eight wickets in the win over Hampshire in the last match at New Road.

Worcestershire have taken maximum bowling points in 37 of their last 38 matches including all 10 games in the top flight this season.

Shantry said: “We are a very disciplined bowling unit in first class cricket and also T20. We hone our skills, we work very hard.

“If you look at a lot of Division One attacks, ours has no real big names in there with the exception of Ajmal, of course.

“We feel we have to prove ourselves and this season I feel we have been proving ourselves for most of the games.

“Is that a motivation? I think so.

We get written off all the time in Division One and it’s a little bit tiresome to be honest.

“Using that as a positive and trying to hit back at the critics is also something we like to do. It is something we talk about, definitely.”

Shantry believes two or three more wins would ensure top flight survival for Worcestershire.

He said: “You’d think if we win two of our last six games, it gives us a chance. If we win three, we’d probably stay up.

“That is a massive motivation now for all of the lads and there is no doubt from anyone in the dressing room that we can do that.”

Worcestershire have held a first innings lead in eight of their 10 Championship matches.

Shantry said: ”With that stat, you’d think you’d win probably more than two of those games.

“You can look at on a positive side and say we’ve been fantastic in the first innings or you can say we haven’t backed up in the second innings very well.

“That’s something to improve on.”

Meanwhile, Daryl Mitchell’s superb double-century against Hampshire means he has replaced Tom Fell as Worcestershire’s leading run-scorer after 10 matches in the LV= County Championship.

The Worcestershire skipper and opener showed typical powers of endurance, discipline and concentration in scoring 206 not out and being on the field for all four days at New Road.

It was a feat he had also achieved when scoring an unbeaten 142 in the clash at the Ageas Bowl earlier in the campaign.

Mitchell, the County’s highest run-getter with 1,334 in 2014, has now amassed 663 at an average of 47.36 — five more than Fell who has scored two hundreds and three fifties in an excellent campaign for the former Oakham School pupil.

On the bowling front, Jack Shantry became the first Worcestershire bowler to move past the 50 mark in first class wickets this season.