Josh Baker was delighted to score his maiden half century for Worcestershire on his first appearance at Lord’s during the LV=Insurance County Championship match with Middlesex.
Baker hit an unbeaten 61 from just 51 balls, mixing some classic strokes with some belligerent hitting at the Home Of Cricket.
His superb efforts helped Worcestershire to earn a first innings lead of 27 before Middlesex replied with 233-6 in their second innings.
Baker admitted he adapted a different approach after recent challenges with the bat in four-day cricket.
The 18-year-old said: “I’ve never been to Lord’s before, so it’s really nice to get a first-class fifty, and to do it here.
“I was trying to play positively and be proactive after a couple of weeks of getting ducks and stuff (low scores), so I changed it up a bit and it came off.
“We were looking to get within about 10 runs of them and anything after that was a bonus.
“Once we got ahead, we were just trying to get as many as possible and quickly.”
Middlesex now have an overall lead of 206 with four wickets in hand heading into the third day.
But Baker is backing the Worcestershire batsmen to chase down whatever target they are facing.
He said: “They fought back strongly but I think the game’s quite evenly balanced at the minute, and the wicket’s getting a lot flatter.
“Whatever Middlesex set us for the final innings, we’d back our batters to chase it down.”
