ross whiteley and wayne parnell defied hampshire’s international attack to extend the specsavers county championship clash with hampshire at New Road into a third day.
whiteley (37 not out) and parnell added an unbroken 48 after the day was extended into the extra half hour.
bad light had the final say as worcestershire closed on 120-8 in pursuit of a 248 target after a day in which 24 wickets fell.
parnell had a fine all-round day with scores of 21 not out and, so far, 17 not out in the second innings, and a return with the ball of 4-23 on his home championship debut.
worcestershire were bowled out for 120 in their first innings, a deficit of 71, but then parnell and josh tongue, who also picked up four wickets, were largely responsible for dismissing hampshire for 176.
the home side reached 72-8 second time around, of which joe clarke scored 33, with former worcestershire paceman kyle abbott claiming a hat-trick.
but then came whiteley and parnell’s defiance before play was called off with 3.3 overs of the addition eight remaining as the light closed in.
batting was always challenging in the seamer-friendly conditions.
an indication of the dominance of ball over bat is that only one half century has been scored so far in the game by hampshire keeper tom alsop in his side’s second innings.
worcestershire resumed on 68-4 in their first innings this morning.
ben cox had a let off on two when ian holland at first slip failed to cling onto a chance offered off dale steyn. he added four more before being caught behind by tom alsop off fidel edwards.
skipper brett d’oliveira (15) edged steyn to third slip and then in the same over ed barnard (0) fell victim to a fine low catch by keeper alsop.
whiteley and parnell counter-attacked in adding 30 for the eighth wicket before the innings was wrapped up.
whiteley (14) provided alsop with another scalp off abbott and tongue (4) was bowled by holland.
the innings ended when dillon pennington (1) was run out leaving parnell undefeated on 21.
when hampshire launched their reply tongue struck in successive overs as debutant oliver soames (0) was bowled and joe weatherley (3) was held by tom fell at third slip.
it became 25-4 with james vince (9) nicking ed barnard to second slip and jimmy adams (13) bowled by pennington in successive overs.
but alsop then steadied the ship, adding 44 with sam northeast and most crucially 77 in tandem with liam dawson.
parnell dismissed both in successive overs with dawson (39) caught at second slip and alsop (64) yorked to the final ball before tea.
the south african also accounted for steyn (4).
wickets continued to tumble when worcestershire began their pursuit of a 248 target.
daryl mitchell departed to a first ball duck – caught at first slip off abbott – and fellow opener tom fell (2) was bowled by steyn.
alex milton (7) departed in the same fashion and it became 27-4 when d’oliveira (2) was also bowled, by abbott.
edwards came into the attack and cox (4) fell to a low catch by alsop before abbott took centre stage with his late hat-trick.
abott had clarke, who struck five fours in his 66 ball knock, caught behind, bowled night-watchman tongue (0) and trapped barnard lbw (0) to complete his treble.
