WORCESTERSHIRE director of cricket Steve Rhodes is determined to pick his players up after their sixth consecutive defeat in LV= County Championship Divi-sion One.

The New Road outfit fell to an innings and 25 run reverse to 2009 champions Durham and with no four-day en-counter until next Sunday, the County chief will have to raise the team spirits following their heaviest loss of the season.

Worcestershire, after having Durham at 44-3 on the opening day of the four-day contest, never really got into the match.

But Rhodes, who felt his side were unlucky with several of their dismissals in the first innings when they were bowled out for 217, was less than impressed with how some of his team got out the second time around.

“My job, how I see it, is to pick them up and keep them going,” Rhodes said. “But if they deserve a dressing down then they will get a dressing down.

“It is all part of the learning curve and that is something that I got when I was a young player, it made me learn quickly.”

However, while Rhodes is not afraid to read the riot act if his players under-perform, he doesn’t want his team to go into their shell.

“We don’t want to kill these players,” he said. “There is some terrific young talent in that dressing room and I back them.

“The reason I’m passionate about corrective language is because I want these guys to play for England. In many ways I’m passionate about them improving and passionate about them playing at a higher level.

“You look at people like Richard Jones, players like Moeen Ali and Alexei Kerve-zee, I want them to understand what is right and wrong but if they are going to improve and going to play for England they have got to find that out now.”

Worcestershire returned on the final day of the Durham clash determined to try and make their visitors bat again and with Gareth Andrew and Ben Scott going well at the crease there was a chance of that happening.

But once Andrew reached his half-century he fell when pulling Scott Borthwick to Ben Stokes at deep mid-wicke then Damien Wright went the next ball.

Jones also went without scoring, run out going for a needless second run, while Scott (73) was the last man out, edging Steve Harmison to Stokes at third slip.

Adrian Shankar was unable to bat due to the knee injury he sustained in the warm-up on Friday.