WORCESTERSHIRE'S cricketers kicked off their season with a resounding win against Gloucestershire at Bristol.

Skipper Joe Leach's late burst of wickets helped his side complete a superb all-round performance in their opening Bob Willis Trophy match, picking up four wickets in the space of 30 balls before tea on the final day.

Gloucestershire's second innings was polished off for 270 leaving Worcestershire with 110 to chase from 35 overs.

Charlie Morris, Josh Tongue and Daryl Mitchell made the vital breakthroughs on the final day, former county captain Mitchell pairing once again with Jake Libby to ensure there were no early scares.

Their solid opening partnership was followed by Tom Fell and Jack Haynes, who knocked off the remaining runs with eight and a half overs still to spare.

Fell finished unbeaten on 32 and Haynes, who stroked the winning boundary, finished 30 not out after an unbroken stand of 53 in 8.1 overs. Worcestershire earned 22 points, 16 for a win plus six bonus points.

The pears bowled with great control and discipline throughout with Morris carrying on in impressive style from where he left off last season with match figures of 44.3-14-104-6 and Tongue bowling with pace and aggression to end with 41-8-139-6.

The batting line-up was solid throughout with Daryl Mitchell, Jake Libby, Tom Fell, Jack Haynes, Brett D’Oliveira and Ben Cox all making sizeable contributions.

Mitchell also held onto a stunning slip catch and chipped in with a wicket while D’Oliveira dismissed Gloucestershire’s two leading first innings contributors in Chris Dent and Graeme van Buuren.

Gloucestershire resumed on 135-3 with Morris, who picked up the key wicket of Chris Dent on day three, and Ed Barnard sharing the attack.

Nighwatchman Josh Shaw had a stroke of good fortune when he inside-edged a Morris delivery to the boundary and making 21 with five boundaries before falling to Tongue who trapped him lbw with the total 163-4.

George Hankins completed his half century off 147 balls with six boundaries but he fell when Leach brought Mitchell into the attack. He struck in his first over when Ryan Higgins (6) missed a straight delivery which hit him on the back pad and he departed lbw.

New batsman Jack Taylor was restricted to just three singles off 53 balls before lunch when Hankins was unbeaten on 68 out of 206-5.

At that juncture Leach had figures of 20-3-52-0, Morris 17-8-36-2, Tongue 13-3-42-2, Barnard 16-6-36-0, D’Oliveira 6-0-16-0 and Mitchell 9-4-7-1.

Tongue returned to the attack after the interval and collected the prized wicket of Hankins for 69, his defiant knock ending when he was lbw, becoming Tongue's third wicket of the innings.

Leach then mopped up the remainder of the innings in quickfire time to earn some deserved tangible reward for his efforts during the game.

Gareth Roderick, who is joining Worcestershire on a three year contract from November, was lbw for nine and Gloucestershire debutant Tom Price also fell leg before for a duck.

Leach made it three wickets in three overs when Jack Taylor (23) edged to Daryl Mitchell at second slip and, after a last wicket stand of 31, David Payne (14) lost his leg stump to the same bowler.