worcestershire ccc opener daryl mitchell continued his impressive pre-season form on day two of the friendly match with warwickshire ccc at edgbaston.
mitchell had scored 90 and 32 not out in last week’s competitive intra-squad match at New Road and again looked in good touch today.
he completed a 103-ball half century with eight boundaries before eventually retiring on 52 not out at lunch.
jack haynes (43) and riki wessels (31) batted with freedom and looked in good form ahead of saturday’s bob willis trophy opening match with gloucestershire at bristol.
there was also time for jake libby, in his second opportunity of the day, to make a solid 32 as worcestershire closed on 253-10 from 88.5 overs.
warwickshire had scored 315-5 from 96 overs yesterday and it was worcestershire’s turn to bat all day.
after libby (0) was lbw to oliver hannon-dalby, the second wicket pair of mitchell and tom fell scored freely.
mitchell off-drove hannon-daly for three down the ground to get off the mark. the long-serving opener then clipped the same bowler off his legs for his first boundary,
fell got into his stride with two fours in an over from olly stone via an off drive and a steer down to third man.
the 50 partnership between mitchell and fell came up in 14 overs.
fell (17) was dismissed when he edged craig miles to will rhodes at second slip.
mitchell continued to look in good nick and flicked miles off his legs for another boundary.
he was joined at the wicket by haynes who made his first team breakthrough at the end of last season.
the england under-19 batsman quickly moved into double figures and batted fluently.
mitchell collected two boundaries in an over from ryan sidebottom and completed his half century with a cut to the ropes off the same bowler. it contained eight fours and came off 103 balls.
by lunch mitchell had moved onto 52 and haynes 30 out of 111-2 from 29 overs.
mitchell retired not out at that juncture with brett d’oliveira replacing him at the crease.
haynes moved onto 43 from just 49 deliveries in confident fashion before he edged a ball from stone that nipped away through to keeper matt burgess with the total 126-3.
wessels also struck the ball sweetly during his run a ball 31 until he was caught behind by burgess off the bowling of sidebottom and ben cox (0) was dismissed by the same combination.
d’oliveira (13) battled away before he lofted spinner alex thomason to ian bell who ran around from mid-wicket to mid-on to take the catch.
ed barnard (6) produced a handsome straight drive for four at harry brookes expense before burgess held onto his fourth catch as worcestershire reached 186-7 off 59 overs at tea.
ross whiteley (14) was on the receiving end of a lifting delivery from stone which flew to sam hain at first slip.
club captain joe leach (15) got his head down in determined fashion before he was caught at extra cover off rhodes.
libby returned to the middle for a second knock and made an accomplished —-
he square drove thomson for four and moved into the 30s after turning sidebottom off his legs.
libby’s dismissal, to a fifth catch by burgess off sidebottom, signaled the end of proceedings.
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batting
worcestershire
mitchell retired not out 52
libby (first knock) lbw hannon-dalby 0 (1-3 3rd over)
fell (first knock) c rhodes b miles 17 (2-53 17th over)
haynes c burgess b stone 43 (3-126 34th over)
d’oliveira c bell b thomson 13 (6-169 48th)
wessels c burgess b sidebottom 31 (4-163 43rd over)
cox c burgess b sidebottom 0 (5-163 43rd)
whiteley c hain b stone 14 (8-190 62nd)
barnard c burgess b brookes 6 (7-184 57th over)
leach c stone b rhodes 15 (9-228 75th)
libby (second knock) c burgess b sidebottom 32
fell (second knock) not out 13
tongue did not bat
morris did not bat
pennington did not bat
total (for 10 wickets) 253 in 88.5 overs
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warwickshire
bowling
hannon-dalby 6-2-13-1
stone 15-5-47-2
miles 11-4-41-1
norwell 10-2-22-0
brookes 9-4-32-1
sidebottom 11.5-2-43-3
thomson 18-8-24-1
rhodes 8-3-24-1
