DIRECTOR of Cricket Tom Moody showered paceman Nantie Hayward with praise after Worcestershire's opening County Champion-ship game of the season ended in an absorbing draw against Hampshire at New Road.

The South African Test star ended with impressive match figures of 9-165 as Hants held on by the skin of their teeth to deny his side what would have been a well deserved win.

Set a victory target of 314 in 74 overs, the visitors were 276-9 at the close with Hayward marking his debut by grabbing 5-70 to add to his first innings 4-95.

Moody said: "It was a great start for him. He bowled with genuine pace. He bowled a number of overs throughout the game and took nine wickets which is a tremendous effort.

"He puts a different spin on things when he comes on to bowl, particularly when you are looking to win games. He can blow teams away and he nearly did it for us.

"Nantie adds a nice dimension to our attack. We have now got some quality and depth in our attack and he just adds to the strength of it."

Moody also praised Ben Smith who made 104 and 82 in his first match as skipper.

"He had a very good game with the bat and as captain," said Moody, who described the match as 'terrific'. He added: "It was just unfortunate from our point of view that we didn't take that last wicket. But full credit to our guys. They fought very hard over the four days and particularly in the last two sessions trying to pull off the win."

After the County had declared at 269-9, Hants made a rocky start to their victory bid and slipped to 13-2. But John Crawley (67) and Robin Smith (77) put on 122 in 33 overs before the Worcestershire attack began making headway despite 48 from Nic Pothas and 38 from Dimitri Mascarenhas.

In the end, however, the last pair of Alan Mullally and Ed Giddins managed to keep the County at bay by surviving the final eight tense deliveries.

Moody said: "We have had a good cricket wicket and when you get a good surface like that you can produce some exciting cricket from bowlers and batsmen."