Kashif Ali and Taylor Cornall were the major contributors with bat and ball, respectively for Worcestershire Seconds, who went down by five wickets to a strong Lancashire Seconds in a Second Eleven Championship match at Kidderminster.
Kashif continued the outstanding form he demonstrated in the Seconds last summer when he achieved seven successive fifty-plus scores including a double century and two hundreds.
Opening batter Cornall showed his potential with the ball as his spin brought him nine wickets in the game.
Kashif top-scored with 89 in Worcestershire’s first innings of 223 from 77 overs after they had been put into bat following a first day wash-out before becoming one of five victims of England spinner Matt Parkinson.
Kashif struck one six and 14 fours in his 137-ball knock and rescued Worcestershire from 51-4 during a fifth-wicket stand of 94 with Henry Cullen (33) before triallist Adam Sylvester (48) gave the innings some late momentum.
Luke Wood, part of the Worcestershire side which won the 2018 Vitality Blast, was also included in the Lancashire attack.
When Lancashire batted, another triallist in Adnan Ghaus removed both openers and then slow left armer Cornall worked his way through the middle and lower order.
He finished with figures of 27-5-73-5 and captain Pat Brown bowled 25 overs for 68 runs and one wicket as Lancashire were bowled out for 294 in 96.3 overs – a lead of 71.
Kashif top-scored again with 28 in Worcestershire’s second innings of 132 in 39.5 overs with Cullen (23) and Cornall (23) the other major contributors.
Parkinson picked up another five wickets, but then Lancashire were made to fight hard to reach their 62 target.
Cornall collected another four wickets to end with match figures of 36-6-98-9, and there was one wicket for Kashif as Lancashire reached 64-5.
Assistant Coach Richard Jones said: “We pushed a strong Lancashire side all the way, and the chat at the end of the game was about that, and in challenging conditions.
“I felt like we had the hardest of conditions. We lost the toss when it was a little bit damp on that second morning.
“We would have bowled as well, and it was really tough to score. They bowled well, took their chances, and it looked like we were going to get bowled out relatively cheaply.
“But we had a great partnership after lunch between Kashif and Henry Cullen and then Adam Sylvester, the triallist, he batted really well, and we got up to a decent score in the end.
“Throughout that day, it got a little bit easier to bat on, but as can be the case in four-day cricket, the third innings is a really important part, particularly in a shortened game where we are thinking about setting up for that fourth innings.
“It started to spin then, the pitch dried out quicker than we thought, and they’d got Matt Parkinson, who has played for England and been one of the most consistent county performers over the last few years.
“He bowled nicely, and they had a young left-arm spinner who bowled beautifully, so it was a real challenge for our batters.
“Even in that second innings, we had a chance to bowl them out relatively close to our score, and we just weren’t able to take it.
“Again, their experience with Luke Wood, another international bowler, and Jack Blatherwick, who has played first-team cricket, got them out of a whole a little bit.
“We missed an opportunity when we needed to show a bit more intent, have a bit more energy. That might have been the difference, and their lead ended up being what won them the game.
“In the fourth innings, Taylor Cornall bowled beautifully as he did throughout the game, and to take nine wickets was a great effort, and Kashif also bowled very well.”
