JOSH Tongue admitted it was an "amazing feeling" to claim the high-profile wickets of Australian batter Steve Smith and Indian vice-captain Cheteshwar Pujara.

All the talk ahead of The Pears' County Championship clash with Sussex at New Road was about the debut of Smith, who will most certainly be a key player for the Aussies in the forthcoming Ashes Series in the summer.

But he was given out LBW to Tongue on day two for 30 runs, a wicket that the bowler will no doubt remember for a long time.

"What’s it like bowling at world-class players? I said to Ben Gibbon at mid-off ‘this is a bit surreal isn’t it bowling at Steve Smith and Cheteshwar Pujara’ but it was a nice feeling to get them both out," said Tongue.

"For whoever got Steve Smith out, it was going to be an amazing feeling, and that was the case for me.

"Pujara is one of the best batters in the world and very hard to bowl at because he leaves the ball so late.

"Even some of the nicks he played weren’t even going to hand, but it was such an amazing knock."

But it was not just the batters that were on display. England seam bowler Ollie Robinson took 7-59 on day one, a stint that Tongue also learned a lot from.

"Ollie Robinson is playing international cricket at the minute, so it is quite good watching how he goes about his business, and he bowled unbelievably," he added.

"Playing against international players like Pujara, Smith, and Robinson, you learn a lot. It just shows what the standard is to play international cricket from county cricket.

"For me, it is nice to be back on the park enjoying my cricket. I’m probably not at my best at the minute, but I know it’s close."

Sussex took charge on day 2 but a washout on day three dented their momentum as they chased victory.

The final day began with Worcestershire 34/1 in their second innings, 77 runs behind Sussex.

A patient knock from Azhar Ali looked to be guiding Worcestershire towards a draw at tea, where they were 184/5.

Adam Hose had produced a decent 41, adding to his 59 in the first innings.

Sussex were pushing to try and force a chance to claim victory but at the time of print, they were running out of overs in which to do so.