STEVE Rhodes says it is important for Worcestershire’s players to celebrate their current success but also to “keep putting in the hard graft” to boost their chances of further triumphs.

They completed a resounding eight-wicket win over Northamptonshire inside three days at Wantage Road.

It was their fourth successive win in Specsavers County Championship Division Two — the first time they have put together such a sequence at the start of a campaign since the title triumph in 1964.

Director of cricket Rhodes said: “We are trying desperately to make sure we enjoy our successes but similarly to keep putting in the hard graft and the hard work.

“We are very proud of what we are doing.

“One bad day in the season so far at Lancashire (in the Royal London One-Day Cup) is an amazing effort.

“But we’ve got to make sure we keep doing those basics well and getting stuck in with practice, making sure we respect the opposition and doing the hard yards to win games.

“If we can carry on doing that we’ve got a chance of it continuing.”

Worcestershire were made to work hard for their success after Northants totalled 343 in their second innings.

But Daryl Mitchell’s unbeaten 78 to follow his first-innings 161 ensured there were no alarms as victory was secured in the extra eight overs.

Rhodes said: “It was really hard work and they pushed us in that second innings because you didn’t want to chase too many runs on that wicket.

“I want to pay tribute to Daryl, nearly 240 runs in the match, and he spent a lot of time out there in difficult conditions.

“He thoroughly deserves all the praise he can get because it was a fine match in both innings for Daryl, seeing us home but also that big score in the first innings.

“The bowlers shared the wickets around and it was a real team effort with the ball. Nathan Lyon put in quite a stint but all the bowlers did well at times.

“They all contributed with wickets and Josh Tongue, with his pace, went aggressive which is a tactic we have been working on and he showed he has got some good pace.

“Also what is nice with the battting is they are definitely dove-tailing and sharing the runs around a bit.”

Aussie Lyon bowled for the best part of two sessions and was rewarded with three wickets.

Rhodes added: “It is really important for all the bowlers to get the overs under their belt but that would have been good for him to blow away any cobwebs there might have been.

“He hasn’t been doing a lot of bowling before he came here and he contributed with three very good wickets for us.”

Worcestershire are next in action at Sussex in the County Championship from Friday (11am).