Worcestershire face an uphill battle to save their Rothesay County Championship clash against Nottinghamshire after a late cluster of wickets on Day Two saw the home side reduced to 93-5, with a lead of just 68 runs, on a testing day at Visit Worcestershire New Road.
Working harmoniously with the ball early on, the Pears seam attack bowled with efficiency and discipline to dismiss Nottinghamshire for 207, with Tom Taylor (4-70) starring in another impressive spell.
Ben Allison (3-41) and Matthew Waite (2-33) showed their skills to help restrict the Outlaws lead to just 25 a the end of their first innings, but a late burst from former Pear Josh Tongue kept Worcestershire on the back foot.
Reduced to 68-5, Gareth Roderick and Ethan Brookes both finished 14* to see the home side through to the close with a 68-run lead with plenty of work to do heading into the third day’s play.
After last night’s late, solitary breakthrough, Worcestershire’s seam bowlers looked to claw their side back into the contest on an overcast second morning at Visit Worcestershire New Road.
Having been on the back foot for the majority of the opening day, the Pears battled hard throughout a turgid morning session to take three Outlaws scalps for the cost of 75 runs, with the seam quartet bowling disciplined and controlled lines to keep a foothold in the contest.
Ben Allison impressed early on as he removed Ben Slater for 24, when the paceman squared up the opener with a ball that caught the edge just outside off-stump to ignite the hosts’ start to the day.
Freddie McCann and Joe Clarke, another former patron of the New Road parish, came together to add fifty for the third wicket, before the industrious Matthew Waite ended their partnership when McCann flirted with a wide delivery from around the wicket that was edged through to Gareth Roderick.
Allison, enjoying a fruitful time with the ball, struck just eight overs later with his second wicket of the morning to dislodge Jack Haynes for two, with Jake Libby taking a smart catch at second slip.
Having returned from the lunch break and resuming on 121-4, Clarke was only able to survive for two more balls before he was the next set batter to depart, as he pushed at a Khurram Shahzad delivery outside off-stump to give Roderick his third catch of the innings.
Still 60 runs ahead, the Worcestershire hopes of staying in a low scoring contest relied heavily on a seam bowling unit working hard for inroads, with Ethan Brookes introduced as the search for a sixth wicket and an entry into the Outlaws tail continued.
The timely nature of wickets continued into the afternoon session, as Kyle Verreynne and Lyndon James’ fifty-run stand was ended by the ever-reliable Tom Taylor in the 59th over when he had James caught behind, before doubling the home side’s delight when he castled Liam Patterson-White without scoring just two balls later to swing the momentum of the match back in the favour of the Pears.
Taylor’s superb season with the ball for Worcestershire showed no signs of stopping as he took the eighth wicket of the innings, removing Verreynne for 26 as the last recognised batter in the Notts team made his way off the field with Worcestershire just two runs behind in the contest.
Josh Tongue (10) and Dillon Pennington (15) were accounted for by Allison and Waite respectively, as Worcestershire’s bowlers wrapped up the Notts innings for 207, a deficit of just 25 runs.
Taylor returned the best figures for his side, finishing with 4-70, ably supported by Allison (3-41) and Waite (2-33) who bowled in tandem to great effect throughout.
In almost identical fashion to the first innings, the Worcestershire top-order struggled to cope under serious scrutiny of the Notts bowlers in the early exchanges, falling to 68-5 as the hosts efforts to build a second innings lead were thrown into disarray.
Rehaan Edavalath made nine before he was trapped LBW by the impressive Josh Tongue, before the England seamer also removed Jake Libby (25) and Kashif Ali (16) in an eye-catching nine over spell that put the skids under the home side from the get-go.
In dark, gloomy conditions and aware of the rain forecast across the next two days scheduled play, Dan Lategan (8) was unlucky to see his innings ended when a thick edge was pouched one-handed by Freddie McCann in spectacular fashion at second slip, shortly before Brett D’Oliveira was bowled in the 24th over.
A composed and resilient partnership between Gareth Roderick (14*) and Ethan Brookes (14*) saw the home side through to 93-5 at 5:50pm, when the players were withdrawn from the field with the light fading and no further play possible on day two.
