Worcestershire prosper thanks to excellence of Alan Richardson and Damien Wright

Worcestershire chairman Martyn Price has excused the county’s chief executive David Leatherdale and director of cricket Steve Rhodes of any wrongdoing over the Adrian Shankar affair.

West Mercia Police are investigating whether batsman Shankar may have provided false information to obtain a two year contract with Worcestershire, who abruptly terminated the deal last week.

Price has backed his senior management team and asked the England and Wales Cricket Board to review its registration procedures.

“David and Steve have my full backing, they have done nothing wrong and have worked hard to sort this mess out.” Price said. “If there is any blame attached the ECB have to take a bit of it."

At least Worcestershire’s on-field performances diverted some of the attention from ‘Shankargate’ by making the champions struggle on a seamer-friendly pitch.

Worcestershire have lost all six matches since they returned to the top flight but they were spirited and competitive thanks to the excellence of Alan Richardson and Damien Wright.

The new ball pair shared six wickets between them and beat the bat on numerous occasions.

Riki Wessels, controversially registered after he obtained an obscure entrepreneur visa, the terms of which require him to be contracted through a company, marked his Nottinghamshire championship debut with an aggressive 67.

The champions scrambled their first batting point in three matches thanks to lower order resistance from Chris Read, Paul Franks and Andre Adams.

The most fluent innings of the day was played by Vikram Solanki who played beautifully for his 53-ball 52 before he went LBW to Adams.

Solanki’s stand of 65 with Matt Pardoe for Worcestershire’s second wicket was the only half century partnership of the day.

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Moeen extends Worcestershire stay

Worcestershire batsman Moeen Ali has signed a two-year contract extension to keep him at New Road until the end of the 2013 campaign.

The 23-year-old left-hander, whose current deal was due to run out at the end of this summer, scored more than 2,000 runs in all competitions last season when he represented England Lions.

New Road director of cricket Steve Rhodes said: “Moeen played exceptionally well during 2010 and was a major part of our four-day promotion push.

“The development of younger players is paramount to the club’s future and I am delighted to have a talented all-round cricketer, such as Moeen, commit his future to the club.

“At Worcestershire, it can be difficult to hang on to our good, young players. However, we have signed up Richard Jones, Alexei Kervezee and others on long contracts, so getting Moeen to agree as the final piece of the jigsaw was crucial.

“We now have a nucleus of talented youngsters who will be playing together for the next few years - that can only be a good thing for Worcestershire.

“Moeen told me very clearly that he is happy here and he has been given the opportunity to bat up the order, develop his bowling and field in the positions he prefers.”

Rhodes added: “The deadline in the final year of his contract when other counties could put in 28-day approaches has only just been reached, so it never got to the stage where teams came in for him.

“We have been working all winter to reach a positive decision for us at Worcestershire and for Moeen himself. It has taken a while, but everyone is happy to have finalised it.”

Moeen, who moved to New Road from Warwickshire, said: “I have been at the club since 2007 and have thoroughly enjoyed my time here. I have been looked after very well.

“I am grateful for the opportunities I have had, which have allowed me to develop both my batting and bowling in all forms of the game, and I hope to progress over the coming years and help the club achieve future success.”

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