Tuesday, August 24th, 2021

MORRIS IN FIVE WICKET BURST BEFORE LIBBY AND MITCHELL PRESS HOME ADVANTAGE

Paceman Charlie Morris picked up five wickets, and Jake Libby hit an unbeaten half-century, as Worcestershire took control on day two of their Second Eleven Championship match with Warwickshire at New Road.

Club Captain Joe Leach and Adam Finch worked their way through the Warwickshire top-order, and then Morris cleaned up the remainder of the innings in quickfire time.

He finished with figures of 13.1-5-24-5 as Warwickshire were dismissed for 128 in 69.1 overs.

Leach did not enforce the follow on and openers Daryl Mitchell and Libby built strongly on a first-innings lead of 156 as Worcestershire reached 137-2 by the close.

Libby finished unbeaten on 69 from 101 balls with eight fours.

Warwickshire resumed on 22-0 in reply to Worcestershire first innings total of 284, and Leach and Finch soon made inroads with the ball.

Amir Khan (16) edged a delivery from Leach, which brought about a fine low catch by Daryl Mitchell at second slip in the fifth over of the morning.

Leach struck again in his next over when the other opener in Hamza Shaikh (12) played no shot at a delivery which knocked out his off stump.

Finch then picked up two wickets in two balls to reduce Warwickshire to 43-4.

Matthew Lamb (12) went for a pull but only picked out Dillon Pennington on the fine leg boundary.

England all-rounder Chris Woakes (0) pushed forward to his first delivery from Finch and was trapped lbw.

Runs were hard to score, and the rate dropped well below two an over in the face of some accurate and probing bowling.

The morning session produced 46 runs from 30 overs for the loss of four wickets.

Leach returned to break to a stubborn partnership of 43 in 25 overs between Ethan Brookes and Jacob Bethell.

Having made 13 off 72 balls, Brookes was lbw to a delivery that swung back into him – and then Morris took centre stage.

He had Michael Booth (15) caught behind and then collected four wickets in the space of 11 deliveries.

Keeper Kai Smith (0) went lbw, and Liam Norwell (0) pushed forward and was bowled.

Manraj Johal (2) went in a similar fashion, and then Bethell, having made 48 off 156 balls in three and a half hours of defiance, went for a big hit and also had his stumps shattered.

Leach finished with figures of 13-5-31-3 and Finch 11-4-21-2.

Mitchell and Libby scored freely and got in some invaluable time at the middle before the return to LV=Insurance County Championship action.

Mitchell hit spinner Karl Carver straight back down the ground for six.

The pair put on 83 before Mitchell (42) went for another big hit against Bethell and was caught at backward point.

Libby went to his half-century off 79 balls out of 99-1 with a single off Bethell. It contained five boundaries.

Nightwatchman Pennington (11) was dismissed by Bethell in the penultimate over – caught at mid-off.